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  • Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Seeing Wealth as a Responsibility Improves Attitudes Towards Taxation

By: Ashley V. Whillans, Nathan J. Wispinski and Elizabeth W. Dunn
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Abstract

Taxes are beneficial; society depends on the revenue generated from taxation to provide essential public services such as education and health care. Taxes also attract a high degree of loathing. Tax noncompliance is a major problem for governments worldwide—with hundreds of billions of potential tax revenue uncollected each year. Thus, it is critical for research to examine factors that encourage tax satisfaction. In this research, we hypothesized that people would be more inclined to view taxation in a favorable light if they believed that wealth incurs a responsibility to give back to society (wealth-as-responsibility). Consistent with this prediction, in Study 1, people who reported stronger wealth-as-responsibility beliefs felt better about paying taxes. In Study 2, individuals assigned to read text encouraging the idea that wealth incurs a responsibility to give back to society felt better about paying taxes compared to a neutral control group. In Study 3, individuals assigned to read text encouraging wealth-as-responsibility felt better about paying taxes on earned income in the lab. Together, these studies show that reframing the meaning of wealth can shape people’s attitudes about paying their taxes, thus providing evidence for a novel lever to encourage more positive attitudes about taxation.

Keywords

Wealth; Taxation; Attitudes; Society

Citation

Whillans, Ashley V., Nathan J. Wispinski, and Elizabeth W. Dunn. "Seeing Wealth as a Responsibility Improves Attitudes Towards Taxation." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 127 (July 2016): 146–154.
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About The Author

Ashley V. Whillans

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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More from the Authors
  • The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Satisfaction of Workers in Low-Wage Jobs By: Elizabeth R Johnson and Ashley V. Whillans
  • The Developmental Origins and Behavioral Consequences of Attributions for Inequality By: Antonya Marie Gonzalez, Lucia Macchia and Ashley V. Whillans
  • Policy Stringency and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of Data from 15 Countries By: Lara B. Aknin, Bernardo Andretti, Rafael Goldszmidt, John F. Helliwell, Anna Petherick, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Daisy Fancourt, Elkhonon Goldberg, Sarah P. Jones, Ozge Karadag, Elie Karam, Richard Layard, Shekhar Saxena, Emily Thornton, Ashley Whillans and Jamil Zaki
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