The managerial benefits of tax compliance: perception by small business taxpayers

Research undertaken in 2006 – 2007 investigated the perception of managerial benefits of tax compliance by small business taxpayers. Survey data from a sample of 300 small business taxpayers and responses to semi-structured interviews of owner managers were examined. The study found that a majority of small business taxpayers recognised that tax compliance activities led to better record keeping and to an improved knowledge of their financial affairs. However, there seemed to be a general reluctance by respondents to accept the idea that benefits could be derived as a result of complying with tax. The findings of this study are important as it is the first research that systematically investigated managerial benefits and their perception by small business taxpayers in Australia.

Motivation and perception factors influence buying home behaviour in Dilly, East Timor

Demand of low cost housing increased from 1995 to 1997 which is shown by the number of housing loan approval. In order to develop the most suitable marketing plan, developer needs to know some factors which influenced to the decision making process of buying house. This research used a residential development in PT Delta Comoro Permai, Dilly as a case study. A survey to homeowners has been done to evaluate the motivation and perception factors in buying home behaviour. The survey has been done on the 3rd August to 29th August 1998. In this study, four main components have been examined. Physical and linkage are not as important as environment and utilities for the homebuyer. Moreover, the result is consistent with developer’s motto ‘clean, secure, aesthetic, healthy and prosperity’. This study provides further recommendation in the environment and utilities components for the new development in the future.

Tax morale and direct democracy

This paper analyses the impact of direct democracy on tax morale in Switzerland, a country where participation rights strongly vary across different cantons, using survey data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 1998. The findings suggest that direct democratic rights have a significantly positive effect on tax morale.

Comparison of temporal processing and motion perception in emmetropes and myopes

While spatial determinants of emmetropization have been examined extensively in animal models and spatial processing of human myopes has also been studied, there have been few studies investigating temporal aspects of emmetropization and temporal processing in human myopia. The influence of temporal light modulation on eye growth and refractive compensation has been observed in animal models and there is evidence of temporal visual processing deficits in individuals with high myopia or other pathologies. Given this, the aims of this work were to examine the relationships between myopia (i.e. degree of myopia and progression status) and temporal visual performance and to consider any temporal processing deficits in terms of the parallel retinocortical pathways. Three psychophysical studies investigating temporal processing performance were conducted in young adult myopes and non-myopes: (1) backward visual masking, (2) dot motion perception and (3) phantom contour. For each experiment there were approximately 30 young emmetropes, 30 low myopes (myopia less than 5 D) and 30 high myopes (5 to 12 D). In the backward visual masking experiment, myopes were also classified according to their progression status (30 stable myopes and 30 progressing myopes). The first study was based on the observation that the visibility of a target is reduced by a second target, termed the mask, presented quickly after the first target. Myopes were more affected by the mask when the task was biased towards the magnocellular pathway; myopes had a 25% mean reduction in performance compared with emmetropes. However, there was no difference in the effect of the mask when the task was biased towards the parvocellular system. For all test conditions, there was no significant correlation between backward visual masking task performance and either the degree of myopia or myopia progression status. The dot motion perception study measured detection thresholds for the minimum displacement of moving dots, the maximum displacement of moving dots and degree of motion coherence required to correctly determine the direction of motion. The visual processing of these tasks is dominated by the magnocellular pathway. Compared with emmetropes, high myopes had reduced ability to detect the minimum displacement of moving dots for stimuli presented at the fovea (20% higher mean threshold) and possibly at the inferior nasal retina. The minimum displacement threshold was significantly and positively correlated to myopia magnitude and axial length, and significantly and negatively correlated with retinal thickness for the inferior nasal retina. The performance of emmetropes and myopes for all the other dot motion perception tasks were similar. In the phantom contour study, the highest temporal frequency of the flickering phantom pattern at which the contour was visible was determined. Myopes had significantly lower flicker detection limits (21.8 ± 7.1 Hz) than emmetropes (25.6 ± 8.8 Hz) for tasks biased towards the magnocellular pathway for both high (99%) and low (5%) contrast stimuli. There was no difference in flicker limits for a phantom contour task biased towards the parvocellular pathway. For all phantom contour tasks, there was no significant correlation between flicker detection thresholds and magnitude of myopia. Of the psychophysical temporal tasks studied here those primarily involving processing by the magnocellular pathway revealed differences in performance of the refractive error groups. While there are a number of interpretations for this data, this suggests that there may be a temporal processing deficit in some myopes that is selective for the magnocellular system. The minimum displacement dot motion perception task appears the most sensitive test, of those studied, for investigating changes in visual temporal processing in myopia. Data from the visual masking and phantom contour tasks suggest that the alterations to temporal processing occur at an early stage of myopia development. In addition, the link between increased minimum displacement threshold and decreasing retinal thickness suggests that there is a retinal component to the observed modifications in temporal processing.

Poverty in perception : a study of the twentieth-century prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand, as English-speaking nations with dominant white populations, present an ethnic anomaly not only in South East Asia, but also in the Southern Hemisphere. Colonised by predominantly workingclass British immigrants from the late eighteenth century, an ethnic and cultural connection grew between these two countries even though their indigenous populations and ecological environments were otherwise very different. Building a new life in Australia and New Zealand, the colonists shared similar historic perceptions of poverty – perceptions from their homelands that they did not want to see replicated in their new adopted countries. Dreams of a better life shaped their aspirations, self-identity and nationalistic outlook. By the twentieth century, national independence and self-government had replaced British colonial rule. The inveterate occurrence of poverty in Australia and New Zealand had created new local perspectives and different perceptions of, and about, poverty. This study analyses what relationship existed between the political directions adopted by the twentieth-century prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand and their perceptions of poverty. Using the existential phenomenological theory and methodology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the study adds to the body of knowledge about poverty in Australia and New Zealand by revealing the structure and origin of the poverty perceptions of the twentieth-century prime ministers.

Cross culture comparison of tax morale and tax compliance : evidence from Costa Rica and Switzerland

This paper analyzes the effects of internal and external social norms on tax morale and tax compliance behavior. Field data and data derived from laboratory experiments are used to examine tax morale and tax compliance behavior in Costa Rica and Switzerland. The results indicate that internal and external social norms have a significant effect on tax morale and tax compliance.

The evolution of tax morale in modern Spain

This paper studies the evolution of tax morale in Spain in the post-France era. In contrast to the previous tax compliance literature, the current paper investigates tax morale as the dependent variable and attempts to answer what actually shapes tax morale. Te analysis uses suevey data from two sources; the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey, allowing us to observe tax morale in Spain for the years 1981,1990, 1995 and 1999/2000. The sutudy of evolution of tax morale in Spain over nearly a 20-year span is particularly interesting because the political and fiscal system evolved very rapidly during this period.

Tax morale affects tax compliance : evidence from surveys and an artefactual field experiment

Our working hypotheses is that cross-cultural differences in tax compliance behaviour have foundations in the institutions of tax administration and citizen assessment of the quality of governance. Tax compliance being a complex behavioural issue. Its investigation requires use of a variety of methods and data sources. Results from artefactual field experiments conducted in countries with substantially different political histories and records of governance quality demondtrate that observed differences in tax compliance levels persist over alternative levels of enforcement. The experimental results are shown to be robust by replicating them for the same countries using survey response measures of tax compliance.

Learning approach and perception of learning context in economics education : a causality test

In the study of student learning literature, the traditional view holds that when students are faced with heavy workload, poor teaching, and content that they cannot relate to – important aspects of the learning context, they will more likely utilise the surface approach to learning due to stresses, lack of understanding and lack of perceived relevance of the content (Kreber, 2003; Lizzio, Wilson, & Simons, 2002; Ramdsen, 1989; Ramsden, 1992; Trigwell & Prosser, 1991; Vermunt, 2005). For example, in studies involving health and medical sciences students, courses that utilised student-centred, problem-based approaches to teaching and learning were found to elicit a deeper approach to learning than the teacher-centred, transmissive approach (Patel, Groen, & Norman, 1991; Sadlo & Richardson, 2003). It is generally accepted that the line of causation runs from the learning context (or rather students’ self reported data on the learning context) to students’ learning approaches. That is, it is the learning context as revealed by students’ self-reported data that elicit the associated learning behaviour. However, other research studies also found that the same teaching and learning environment can be perceived differently by different students. In a study of students’ perceptions of assessment requirements, Sambell and McDowell (1998) found that students “are active in the reconstruction of the messages and meanings of assessment” (p. 391), and their interpretations are greatly influenced by their past experiences and motivations. In a qualitative study of Hong Kong tertiary students, Kember (2004) found that students using the surface learning approach reported heavier workload than students using the deep learning approach. According to Kember if students learn by extracting meanings from the content and making connections, they will more likely see the higher order intentions embodied in the content and the high cognitive abilities being assessed. On the other hand, if they rote-learn for the graded task, they fail to see the hierarchical relationship in the content and to connect the information. These rote-learners will tend to see the assessment as requiring memorising and regurgitation of a large amount of unconnected knowledge, which explains why they experience a high workload. Kember (2004) thus postulate that it is the learning approach that influences how students perceive workload. Campbell and her colleagues made a similar observation in their interview study of secondary students’ perceptions of teaching in the same classroom (Campbell et al., 2001). The above discussions suggest that students’ learning approaches can influence their perceptions of assessment demands and other aspects of the learning context such as relevance of content and teaching effectiveness. In other words, perceptions of elements in the teaching and learning context are endogenously determined. This study attempted to investigate the causal relationships at the individual level between learning approaches and perceptions of the learning context in economics education. In this study, students’ learning approaches and their perceptions of the learning context were measured. The elements of the learning context investigated include: teaching effectiveness, workload and content. The authors are aware of existence of other elements of the learning context, such as generic skills, goal clarity and career preparation. These aspects, however, were not within the scope of this present study and were therefore not investigated.

Tax morale and conditional cooperation

Why so many people pay their taxes, even though fines and audit probability are low, is a central question in the tax compliance literature. Positing a homo oeconomicus having a refined motivation structure sheds light on this puzzle. This paper provides empirical evidence for the relevance of conditional cooperation, using survey data from 30 West and East European countries. We find a high correlation between perceived tax evasion and tax morale. The results remain robust after exploiting endogeneity and conducting several robustness tests. We also observe a strong positive correlation between institutional quality and tax mmorale. Keywords: Tax morale; Tax compliance; Tax evasion; Pro-social behavior; Institutions

A Knight without a Sword? The Effects of Audit Courts on Tax Morale

The intention of this paper is to analyse how audit courts affect tax morale, controlling in a multivariate analysis for a broad variety of potential factors. Switzerland, with its variety of audit-court competence among the cantons, has been analysed. With data from the ISSP [1998] (Swiss data 1999), evidence has been found that higher audit-court competence has a significantly positive effect on tax morale. Thus, the results in Switzerland suggest that in the cantons where audit courts are not just knights without swords; they help improve taxpayers' tax morale and thus citizens' intrinsic motivation to pay taxes.

Zinc supplementation at conventional doses does not improve the disturbance of taste perception in hemodialysis patients

Objective: To determine the effect of zinc supplementation on taste perception in a group of hemodialysis patients. Design and Setting: Double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study in a teaching hospital dialysis unit. Patients: Fifteen stable hemodialysis patients randomized to placebo (6 male, 2 female; median age, 67; range, 30 to 72 years) or treatment (5 male, 2 female; median age, 60; range, 31 to 76 years). Intervention: Treatment group received zinc sulfate 220 mg per day for 6 weeks, and the placebo group received an apparently identical dummy pill. Main Outcome Measures: Taste scores by visual analogue scales, normalized protein catabolic rate and plasma, whole blood and red cell zinc levels. Results: At baseline, sweet and salt tastes were identified correctly by both groups. Sour was often confused with salt. Sour solutions of different concentrations were not distinguishable. Taste scores were not different after 6 weeks for either group. There was no significant increment in zinc levels or normalized protein catabolic rate for either group. Conclusion: We found a disturbance of taste perception in hemodialysis patients, particularly for the sour modality, which was not corrected by this regimen of zinc supplementation. These results cast doubts on the conclusions of earlier studies that indicated an improvement in taste after zinc supplementation.