Abstract

Tax literacy refers to the citizens’ degree of possession of specific competencies and skills, which are required for understanding tax issues and concepts at a basic level, and to handle their tax obligations at an advanced level. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether the level of tax literacy affects the tax citizens’ compliance and government trust, especially of those with a high level of general scientific academic literacy.

A quantitative survey of 757 physicians was carried out for the purposes of this study, which showed that an increase in tax literacy can be more effective in increasing tax compliance than an increase in the so-called economic and/or financial literacy. Finally, the research showed that when citizens - in this case physicians - are actively involved in managing their personal tax affairs without resorting to a professional accountant/tax advisor, they exhibit a more responsible tax behaviour.

Keywords

  • Tax Evasion
  • Tax Literacy
  • Trust
  • Tax Compliance
  • Shadow Economy

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