Quality of public governance and voluntary tax payment: experimental evidence from Indonesia

Taxpayers tend to have an aversion to taxes because they often feel that they lack information about how their taxes are being spent. By conducting a vignette survey experiment with the Indonesian taxpayers, we demonstrate that citizens are more likely to perceive their tax obligations favourably if they are exposed to information that the government is acting in a trustworthy manner. This result suggests that a government’s commitment to establishing good governance in tax revenue management can increase public confidence, which can be an important determinant of people’s tax attitudes. Our study provides new empirical evidence on the impact of psychological ties between citizens and the government on citizens’ willingness to pay taxes.