Field Research
Most behavioral tax compliance research is performed using controlled experimental settings
in which subjects are given hypothetical scenarios and asked to indicate how they think they
would behave given the experimental facts. In a field study, decisions affecting the actual taxes
paid are examined. Our initial sample consisted of 1,300 taxpayers. However, having filed an
excise tax return in 2002 does not guarantee that the firm paid use or B«&0 taxes for the period of
interest (3rd Q 2003). For example, all annual 2002 filers would not be filing October returns. In
addition, the excise tax form collects other Washington taxes as well as use and B&O taxes.
Consequently, our final sample was 277 taxpayers (i.e., firms) paying use tax and 1,278 taxpayers
paying B&O tax.