Tax governance in compliance: The role of motivational postures and behavioral intentions

Abstract

Governments are working toward cultivating a culture of tax compliance, recognizing that taxpayers exhibit diverse motivations for fulfilling their tax obligations, resulting in varying levels of reported tax compliance. This paper aims to investigate behavioral intentions with a specific focus on resistance-cooperation motivational postures and their link with tax compliance (voluntary and enforced) and tax evasion between Slovene taxpayers (n = 390). Inter-item correlations next to descriptive statistical methods were calculated using the PLS-SEM approach to explore the motivational postures, tax compliance, and tax evasion characteristics. The survey has shown that most surveyed Slovene taxpayers tend to agree with motivational postures, voluntary tax compliance, and enforced tax compliance statements. The results indicate that motivational posture deference has positive links with both voluntary tax compliance (r = 0.692, p < 0.001) and enforced tax compliance (r = 0.253, p < 0.001), but a negative link with the attitude toward tax evasion (r = –0.404, p < 0.001). Conversely, motivational posture defiance exhibits a negative link with voluntary tax compliance (r = –0.149, p = 0.006) and a positive link with the attitude toward tax evasion (r = 0.229, p < 0.001). The link between defiance and enforced tax compliance is not statistically significant (r = 0.068, p = 0.379). The results indicate that tax authorities should avoid adopting an antagonistic climate and instead focus on fostering positive tax climates, specifically the service and confidence climates, when implementing tax communication strategies with taxpayers.