Tax Evasion, Trust, and State Capacities

Many recently democratized countries in Central and Eastern Europe, having escaped from communist rule and planned economies, face pressing problems related to the notions of tax evasion, trust and state capacities. Tax morale in changing political and economic contexts is of crucial importance. This raises a series of questions : What are the conditions under which people agree to pay taxes ? Why do people avoid taxes ? To what extent do the reasons for tax evasion vary from one region to another ? The authors of this volume address these questions and try to assess the progress which has been made in Central and Eastern Europe with regard to improving tax morale through tax reforms and strengthening of extractive state capacities.
A main insight is the complex causal relationship between the quality of fiscal institutions and tax morale. In addition, huge differences between countries of the former Soviet Union and central European countries, which are now members of the EU, can be observed not only at the level of democratic governance, of state capacities and the structures of trust, but also with regard to tax morale.