The influence of religiosity on taxpayers’ compliance attitudes

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the role of religiosity in determining taxpayers’ attitudes towards tax compliance and discusses likely explanations for the findings in the context of the literature. Design/methodology/approach – A sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design was used in this study. Data were collected using a self-administered survey which involved approximately 300 individual taxpayers in Malaysia, followed by face-to-face interviews with 14 individual taxpayers. Majority of the respondents in both survey and interviews were salaried taxpayers, and the remaining were self-employed taxpayers. Findings – Religiosity is found to have a minimal but statistically significant positive impact on voluntary tax compliance. This probably can be explained by the strong religious values held by many Malaysians, as well as the concept of giving which has been emphasised in almost all religions. Research limitations/implications – Because this study did not differentiate between religious values and moral values in measuring the source of respondents’ internal values, there was a possibility that their internal values may be derived from both sources. Hence, comparing the impact of individuals’ religious values with individuals’ moral values that have no influence from religion on tax compliance is suggested for future research. Practical implications – A new mechanism is suggested to the Malaysian tax authority in regards to the treatment of religious payment to reduce the sense of inequality among citizens and taxpayers. Originality/value – This study enriches the limited literature of tax compliance from the perspective of developing countries, particularly Malaysia, and adds to the limited literature internationally from a religiosity perspective.

Individual Satisfaction and Tax Morale: The Perspective of Different Profession in Indonesia

“…In this case, the power of religiosity is able to move contractors to pay taxes obediently. This result is supported by research (Mohdali & Pope, 2014) in Malaysia, which found religious commitment has a positive effect on tax morale. The results of this study is consistent with the research of Torgler (2007), proving that there is a negative correlation between religious membership and crime.…”

“…(Sá , Martins, & Gomes, 2015) conducted a study in Portugal proving individual satisfaction affecting tax compliance. H1: Individual satisfaction has a significant influence on tax morale (Mohdali & Pope, 2014) who researched religious commitment found that intrapersonal religious commitment has a stronger effect than interpersonal religious commitment. Intrapersonal religious commitment is an individual commitment derived from individual beliefs and attitudes, while interpersonal religious commitment is a commitment derived from individual activism in religious organizations or communities (Pope and Mohdali, 2010).…”

“…The principle of religion is teaching the community to act by prevailing norms and laws and to emphasize sanctions, as a result of violations of social norms and applicable law. Research Mohdali & Pope (2014), which conducted on taxpayers in Malaysia, found that religious commitment was positively influencing tax compliance voluntarily. The culture of Malaysian society that tends to have strong religious values proves to have a positive impact on individual tax compliance.…”

“…This happiness comes from the religious community that formed the "need to belong" in their community. Like Mohdali and Pope (2014) that proxied religious commitment on two dimensions (intrapersonal and interpersonal), so that our research uses religion activity and individual belief, to measure religious commitment. Religious commitment is how much level of understanding in religious belief, values, and its application in the daily life of the taxpayers (Worthington et al, 2003).…”

Do Enforcement, Religiosity and Peer Influence Zakah Compliance Behavior?

“…Religiosity is regarded as individuals" internal moral enforcement mechanism; where it may inhibit immoral and illegal behavior (Torgler, 2006). The results of the past literature have further supported the significant influence of religiosity on certain behaviors, such as minimize cheating rates (Bloodgood et al, 2008) and boosting tax compliance behavior (Mohdali & Pope, 2014). In Zakah literature, religiosity is a fundamental determinant because commitment to pay Zakah is inherently one of the main principles of Islam"s religion itself.…”