A threat to tax morale: The case of Australian higher education policy
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Braithwaite, Valerie
Ahmed, Eliza
Australian National University. Centre for Tax System Integrity
Australian Taxation Office
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Centre for Tax System Integrity (CTSI), Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University
Australian Taxation Office
Australian Taxation Office
Abstract
This study investigated tax morale among a sample of 447 Australian graduates who
completed the Graduates’ Hopes, Visions and Actions Survey (Ahmed, 2000) shortly after
receiving their higher education degrees. Using structural equation modeling (AMOS),
pathways are mapped out showing linkages from (a) the values that individuals hold
concerning the kind of society they want to live in, through (b) satisfaction with
government policy requiring students to pay fees financed through a government loan
(HECS or the Higher Education Contribution Scheme), to (c) HECS morale, that is, an
internalised obligation to repay the loan, and finally to (d) tax morale, that is, an
internalised obligation to pay income tax. Also affecting tax morale indirectly are the
personal experiences of the new graduates. Those who were dissatisfied with their
university course and those who were in the process of repaying their loan were more
opposed to HECS and had lower levels of HECS morale, which in turn, adversely affected
tax morale.
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Working/Technical Paper
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Open Access
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