Abstract:The aim of this study is to explore the impact between religiosity and voluntary tax compliance and enforced tax compliance for self-employed taxpayers in Turkey, where Islam is the predominant religion. A questionnaire survey was administrated to 375 male and 28 female self-employed taxpayers. In this paper, two dimensions of religiosity, namely interpersonal and intrapersonal religiosity, were studied. Factor analysis and ordinary least squares regression methods were used for data analyses. The results of the study illustrate that general religiosity has a statistically positive impact on both voluntary and enforced tax compliance. When we consider the dimensions of religiosity, only intrapersonal religiosity appears to be a significant contributor only to voluntary tax compliance. Nevertheless, interpersonal religiosity has no significant statistical effect on both voluntary and enforced tax compliance. This is one of the pioneer studies of its kind, and investigates the relationship between religiosity and tax compliance from the perspective of developing countries, particularly, Turkey.

The "slippery slope" framework assumes that economic determinants of tax behavior represent authorities' power, which leads to enforced tax compliance. On the other hand, psychological determinants lead to trust in authorities and also to voluntary tax compliance. The aim of the current study is to empirically test this framework in Turkey by investigating the impact of power and trust on enforced tax compliance and voluntary tax cooperation. The data set of the study was obtained from the survey applied to 300 self-employed taxpayers. Two-step linear regression was used for data analysis. This study confirms the main assumptions of the slippery slope framework that power promotes enforced tax compliance and trust fosters voluntary tax cooperation. Although the results are not as clear as in previous studies, the current study reveals that the main theoretical postulations hold also for a Turkish sample than for the previously investigated samples.

Purpose – The aim of this study is to investigate Turkish taxpayers’ perception of the severity of tax evasion relative to other crimes and violations. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was administrated to 475 Turkish self-employed respondents. One sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance methods were used for data analysis. Findings – The results of the study illustrate that tax evasion ranked 10th among the 21 offences surveyed. The results indicate that the average person views tax evasion as only somewhat serious. When compared to similar white-collar crimes, it ranked less severe than accounting fraud, while it was ranked higher than violation of minimum wage laws, welfare fraud and child labor laws. The results of this paper are important as they emphasize the fact that general public do not perceive tax evasion as a serious crime. This perception, allied to lack of enforcement efforts, has created an environment where certain individuals may not be afraid of cheating on their tax return. The study also endeavors to observe whether there is a correlation between the relative severity of a crime whether a victim is involved or not. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation arises from the sampling process used. The sample was drawn from only one city of Zonguldak, Turkey. The second limitation is related to the possibility of a participant misunderstanding the questions and terminology used in the survey. The third limitation is that this study only measures perceptions of the seriousness of 21 selected offences; hence, it may not be representative of the actual crimes. Originality/value – This is an important study in relation to Turkey. This is the pioneer study of its kind which investigates the relationship between tax evasion as a crime and other offences in Turkey. Another important aspect of this study is the fact that our results indicate a close correlation with similar studies carried out in the USA.

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