Tax Morale and Public Spending

Last registered on September 04, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Tax Morale and Public Spending
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012001
Initial registration date
September 01, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 04, 2023, 6:52 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Stanford University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
CREST - Ecole polytechnique - Institut polytechnique de Paris
PI Affiliation
CREST - ENSAE - Institut polytechnique de Paris
PI Affiliation
CREST - CNRS - Institut polytechnique de Paris

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-09-04
End date
2023-09-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Luttmer and Singhal (2014) describe tax morale as an “umbrella term capturing non-pecuniary motivations for tax compliance”. We define and measure four components of tax morale. We are interested in evaluating the causal effect of the opinion on public spending on tax morale. We will provide some information treatments to study to what extent perceptions can change after receiving new information on how public spending is controlled in France and if such information treatments will have an effect on the opinion on public spending and on tax morale.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Boyer, Pierre et al. 2023. "Tax Morale and Public Spending." AEA RCT Registry. September 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12001-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conduct a survey to measure tax morale and the potential social, economic, and ideological factors that can affect it.

To a treatment group, we show a video explaining the role and way of working of the Court of Auditors (Cour des Comptes), which is a public institution responsible for controlling the use of public funds in France. It is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French government.
Intervention (Hidden)
The questionnaire used for the survey consists of 50 questions divided into 9 blocks.

The blocks are the following:
1) General knowledge and understanding of the tax system
2) Knowledge about individual tax situation
3) Treatment
4) Tax morale
5) Opinion on public spending
6) Perception of tax equity
7) Economic behavior of respondents
8) Opinion on tax evasion
9) Interaction with fiscal administration

The video used as information treatment is used by the Cour des Comptes as a presentation of its role and action to the public. The original video was 3 minutes long. The original video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH5PgJCCTEE.

To make the treatment more effective, we cut the original video and keep only the most relevant parts. The script of the shortened video is: (translated from French)

“The Cour des Comptes ensures the proper use of public money and informs the public. It is an independent institution that audits all organizations receiving public funds. The Cour des Comptes also certifies government and social security accounts. It evaluates public policies.

The Cour des Comptes is organized into several thematic chambers, each of which has its own president, and is responsible for auditing the bodies within its scope. Once a program of work has been decided, a team of auditors carries out an on-site audit of the organization in question over a period of several months. The final report is sent to the audited organization and its supervisory body. If necessary, it is made public.

The Court publishes over 70 reports each year. Thanks in part to their media impact, the Court's findings alert public authorities and citizens to potential malfunctions, and its reform proposals help to improve public management. Its recommendations are not binding, but over 70% are partially or fully implemented within three years. If necessary, the Court does not hesitate to reiterate its recommendations.”
Intervention Start Date
2023-09-04
Intervention End Date
2023-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The key outcome variables are the tax morale measures, which directly come from specific questions in the survey. There are four tax morale measures:
1) Opinion on the overall level of taxes
2) Opinion on the personal level of taxes
3) Opinion on whether paying taxes is a “civic act”
4) Opinion on whether cheating on taxes is justified
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The survey will be conducted by a professional survey company among a representative sample of the French population.

The survey is structured as follows.

First step: the respondents answer a few questions about their knowledge and understanding about taxes.
Second step: the video is shown to the treatment group
Third step: the respondents answer the questions that are used to construct the tax morale measures.
Fourth step: the respondents are asked their opinion on public spending.
Fifth step: the respondents answer more questions on equity perception, economic behavior, tax evasion, and interactions with fiscal administration.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Subjects will be randomly assigned to the treatment or control groups using blocks on sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, socioeconomic status, district, city size) to ensure proper balance of these variables across experimental conditions.
Randomization Unit
Whole sample
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No cluster
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 people, 18+ years old
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,000 control units / 1,000 treated units
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials