Costs Stemming from Tax Systems: Tax Compliance Costs

Costs Stemming from Tax Systems: Tax Compliance Costs

The relationship between the state and taxation starts from the establishment of the state. The most important element is the concept of “tax compliance”. Tax compliance can be considered as the harmony of state-society relations. However, the concept of tax non-compliance occurs when taxpayers do not fulfill their tax-related tasks as required. Tax noncompliance is just one of the costs that occur in tax systems, and is named “tax compliance cost” in the literature. This study focuses on tax compliance costs because tax compliance costs are the ones taxpayers are personally obliged to deal with. For this purpose, the study investigates costs accruing from tax systems, including efficiency, planning, application, and compliance costs. According to the analysis results, it was concluded that the main reason for fraud in the tax systems is high compliance costs and that tax compliance directly impacts social wealth. Besides, the existence of conditions conducive to tax evasion and tax avoidance in a country, short-term tax policies, belief in the unfairness and inequality of tax systems, inadequacy of audits conducted by tax authorities, insufficiency of pressure and deterrence mechanisms, constantly changing legislation, and the attitudes and perceptions regarding the illegitimacy of the government determine tax compliance.