Tax Morale, Tax Compliance and the Optimal Tax Policy

Following the behavioural branch of tax compliance literature, this paper tries to incorporate tax morale into the optimal taxation theory. We show that tax morale affects the optimal mix of policy tools of deterrence to clamp down tax evasion. The optimal tax policy in fact differs according to the type of tax payer taken into account. Precisely, in the case of honest taxpayers the optimal strategy from a social welfare standpoint is to substitute a higher taxation/penalty with tighter monitoring; whereas, in the case of tax evaders, the policy maker should enforce both a higher penalty and an increased monitoring