Gender and the Tax Compliance Puzzle: Does gender influence taxpayers' behaviour towards tax compliance? Evidence from Rwanda

Abstract

This study analyzed whether gender is an important factor in explaining the beheviour of taxpayers towards tax compliance. Primary data was collected from 390 taxpayers using a closed-ended questionnaire set. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyze the data. Descriptive data were presented using the mean and standard deviation, while inferential data were analyzed using a univariate and independent t-test. The findings from the survey show that tax knowledge, enforcement level, fairness of the tax system, tax rates, and tax audits influence the beheviour of both female and male taxpayers. The results further revealed that there is a statistically significant mean difference between male and female taxpayers in their perception of government spending, the roles of the tax authority, economic factors, corruption, as well as tax penalties. Perception of government spending, corruption, and tax audits is biased towards female taxpayers, while tax education and tax penalties are biased towards male taxpayers. Gender contributes 55.1% to taxpayers' beheviour towards tax compliance.