Determining the Criteria Affecting Tax Ethics in Türkiye Using the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

Abstract

Tax ethics, which ensure that taxpayers pay taxes voluntarily and with an internal motivation, and enhancing tax ethics is crucially important for increasing tax revenues and preventing informalities. In order to enhance the level of tax ethics among taxpayers, the issues that affect tax ethics must first be determined. In this context, the main purposes of this study are to determine and evaluate the criteria that determine tax ethics in Turkiye and to specify which criteria are more important. In this scope, the study includes 6 main criteria and 32 sub-criteria involving psychological and sociological, economic, social capital, political, institutional and administrative, and demographic criteria for determining tax ethics. The study evaluates these criteria using paired comparisons performed by experts with at least 10 years of professional experience in the field. The study uses the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Error Laboratory method in line with the data obtained from the expert assessments to analyze the relationships among the criteria affecting taxpayers' tax ethics. As a result of the application, the study calculates the threshold values for each of the main criteria. According to the obtained results, the study has determined the economic criteria to affect tax ethics the most in Turkiye, with political psychological, and sociological criteria standing out as the second and third most important criteria and social capital being the criteria that affect tax ethics the least.