Tax Burden and Other Reasons for Law-abiding Behavior of Individuals
The subject of the study is the motives (factors) of the behavior of individual taxpayers. The purpose of the article is to determine the presence or absence of a relationship between illegal employment, the level of the tax burden and other behavioral factors. General scientific research methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) were used in the work. Among the private scientific methods of cognition, special attention is paid to the computational and graphical method of constructing scattering diagrams, which was used to assess the impact of the tax burden on the scale of the shadow economy. The relationship between the share of shadow turnover in GDP and the average annual salary is determined using correlation and regression analysis. The study revealed that the tax burden affects tax evasion, but this effect is manifested depending on the level of economic development of the state. In developing countries, the relationship between the fiscal burden and the share of the shadow economy in GDP is positive, while in developed countries it is weak. The hypothesis that the growth of labor income of individuals leads to a greater desire of individuals to hide their income is refuted. At the same time, it is noted that this thesis does not apply to passive income of citizens (income from capital, dividends, etc.), the growth of which (as was proved by economists earlier) changes the behavioral attitude of taxpayers to a negative one. In the final part of the study, there is a discussion about possible options for the development of the author’s methodology and a set of factors that affect tax evasion by individuals. Conclusions are drawn that when developing measures of state policy to counteract tax evasion, it is necessary to regulate the tax burden while taking into account moral, ethical and other social factors. The results of the study can be used by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Federal Tax Service and the Government of the Russian Federation in developing areas for improving tax policy.