The determinants of tax morale: experience from two African countries

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to analyse and compare tax morale and its determinants in South Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as in Zimbabwe in different economic environments. The study applied the standard models of tax evasion, game theory, prospect theory, agent-based theory and slippery slope framework to explain the variability in the determinants of tax morale between South Africa and Zimbabwe under different economic and political environments. The study becomes novel in that it provides a comparative analysis of the determinants of the tax morale between Zimbabwe and South Africa under contrasting economic and political time scales. The study also tested a new variable, namely hunger, on how it affects tax morale in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study was guided by quantitative research which was used to inform the study. Data was collected using questionnaires from the 2010-2014 and 2017-2020 World Values Survey (WVS). For Zimbabwe, Wave 6 and Wave 7 had a sample size of 1500 and 1200 respectively. The Wave 6 survey for South Africa had 3531 participants. Data was analysed using STATA software 2013 Version. The study’s dependent variable, tax morale and independent variables included marital status, age, income level, employment and religion among others, and analysed them using the Ordered Logit Model. The Ordered Logit Model was used to empirically model the effects of the identified variables on tax morale. The study concludes with an understanding of how tax morale and its determinants is crucial for governments in their bid to boost voluntary compliance. Also, different economic milieus for a particular country affect the level of tax morale significantly. Tax morale was established to be high when Zimbabwe was experiencing economic growth due to the introduction of multi-currency, herein called the dollarization period, and the opposite was true for the post-dollarization era. Surprisingly, the study’s results showed that Zimbabweans have a higher tax morale than South Africans, who have better standards of living. In addition, the determinants of tax morale also differ from one economic situation to another and from one country to another. Corruption, which is a menace in both countries under study, has proven to be an important factor that influences tax morale. Results of all the models show that demographic factors have little effect on tax morale. The study introduced an important variable of hunger in its analysis of determinants of tax morale. Though this variable was insignificant for South Africa, the study showed that there is a negative relationship between hunger and tax morale for Zimbabwe in both economic situations. Based on the thesis’s findings, policy makers should consider the eradication of corruption and hunger in order to boost tax morale, which in turn improves tax compliance. Also, policy makers should include improvement in the perception of democracy in the mix of enhancement strategies of tax compliance.