Rasjonelt valg eller skattemoral? - En flermetodisk studie av nordmenns motivasjon til å kjøpe svart arbeid

Abstract

Taxation is essential for encompassing and universal welfare-states like Norway. However, if citizens opt to free-ride, the result is that someone else loses. In this paper it is applied a multimethod framework to map general attitudes towards buying undeclared work amongst Norwegian citizens. It tests the two dominant theories of non-compliance, rational choice and tax morale, through a time series cross sectional-analysis with data from 2007 to 2018, as well as experimental designs and an open-ended questionnaire. It is argued that a multimethod framework is the best option for sensitive research question as in this paper, due to the relative strengths of the methods. The results show that rational choice theory is not alone enough to explain non-compliance, but when interacted with low degrees of tax moral, it results in citizens buying undeclared work. Results further finds that citizens who buy undeclared work utilizes a rationalization mechanism to overcome the mental barrier of breaking a norm. Lastly, the paper identifies a group of people who has considered, but not actually bought, undeclared work who differs in reasoning than those who has bought or not bought.