Hl: Accountability: Taxpayers required to have the "responsible party" sign an affidavit
confirming that no additional use tax is due will report a higher use tax base than those
not required to file the affidavit.
Sanctions
Being accountable for noncompliance is most relevant to taxpayers when sanctions are associated
with the possibility of detection. The extensive body of research examining the effects of
penalties on income tax compliance provides inconsistent findings (for a review, see Jackson and
Milliron 1986; Roth et al. 1989; Webley et al. 1991; Devos 2005; Dubin 2007; Slemrod 2007).
Unfortunately, much of this research used penalty levels that are discordant with those existing in
the real world (see Carnes and Englebrecht [1995] for a discussion). Tittle (1980) indicates that
thresholds may, in part, explain the inconsistent findings. Once the deterrent threshold is reached,
increasingly severe punishments have diminishing effects, if any (Friedland 1982). Carnes and
Englebrecht (1995) support this notion. They find a significant effect for penalties when using the
actual civil penalties available to the 1RS. Therefore, they conclude that penalties do not have to
be inflated to increase compliance.
The Washington DOR indicated its belief that businesses, in general, were not aware of the
legislated mandatory and discretionary penalties assessable for noncompliance with any of its
taxes. This lack of knowledge was attributed to the historical lenient attitude of the DOR with
noncompliers; it rarely applied penalties. However, at the inception of this study, the Washington
DOR was changing its policy by requiring stricter enforcement of mandatory penalties for noncompliance.
To inform taxpayers of the penalties, the DOR simply sent taxpayers in the experimental
group an educational letter delineating the actual penalties assessed for tax noncompliance.
The expectation was that a heightened awareness of the penalties would improve compliance with
the use tax. Consequently, the second hypothesis is the following:
H2: Sanctions: Taxpayers presented with sanction information will report a higher use tax
base than those not receiving the sanction communications.
Accountabihty is relevant when there is a perceived risk that noncompliant behavior will be
detected and the associated sanctions are consequential to the individual decision maker. Therefore,
accountability and sanctions are expected to complement each other and spur a greater
degree of compliance than that expected by the main effects for either accountability or sanction
alone. Thus, the third hypothesis for this study is the following:
H3: Accountability and Sanctions Effect: Taxpayers required to have the "responsible party"
sign an affidavit confirming that no additional use tax is due and presented with penalty
information will report the highest use tax base for taxpayers in this experiment.
Hl: Accountability: Taxpayers required to have the "responsible party" sign an affidavitconfirming that no additional use tax is due will report a higher use tax base than thosenot required to file the affidavit.SanctionsBeing accountable for noncompliance is most relevant to taxpayers when sanctions are associatedwith the possibility of detection. The extensive body of research examining the effects ofpenalties on income tax compliance provides inconsistent findings (for a review, see Jackson andMilliron 1986; Roth et al. 1989; Webley et al. 1991; Devos 2005; Dubin 2007; Slemrod 2007).Unfortunately, much of this research used penalty levels that are discordant with those existing inthe real world (see Carnes and Englebrecht [1995] for a discussion). Tittle (1980) indicates thatthresholds may, in part, explain the inconsistent findings. Once the deterrent threshold is reached,increasingly severe punishments have diminishing effects, if any (Friedland 1982). Carnes andEnglebrecht (1995) support this notion. They find a significant effect for penalties when using theactual civil penalties available to the 1RS. Therefore, they conclude that penalties do not have tobe inflated to increase compliance.The Washington DOR indicated its belief that businesses, in general, were not aware of thelegislated mandatory and discretionary penalties assessable for noncompliance with any of itstaxes. This lack of knowledge was attributed to the historical lenient attitude of the DOR withnoncompliers; it rarely applied penalties. However, at the inception of this study, the WashingtonDOR was changing its policy by requiring stricter enforcement of mandatory penalties for noncompliance.To inform taxpayers of the penalties, the DOR simply sent taxpayers in the experimentalgroup an educational letter delineating the actual penalties assessed for tax noncompliance.The expectation was that a heightened awareness of the penalties would improve compliance withthe use tax. Consequently, the second hypothesis is the following:H2: Sanctions: Taxpayers presented with sanction information will report a higher use taxbase than those not receiving the sanction communications.Accountabihty is relevant when there is a perceived risk that noncompliant behavior will bedetected and the associated sanctions are consequential to the individual decision maker. Therefore,accountability and sanctions are expected to complement each other and spur a greaterdegree of compliance than that expected by the main effects for either accountability or sanctionalone. Thus, the third hypothesis for this study is the following:H3: Accountability and Sanctions Effect: Taxpayers required to have the "responsible party"sign an affidavit confirming that no additional use tax is due and presented with penaltyinformation will report the highest use tax base for taxpayers in this experiment.
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