Title: The impact of taxpayers' perception of government's accountability, transparency and reduction in fiscal corruption on voluntary tax compliance in Nigeria

Authors: Babatunde Gbadegesin Adeyeye; Julius Olatunde Otusanya

Addresses: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, Nigeria ' Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract: This paper examined the impact of taxpayers' perception of government's accountability, transparency and reduction in fiscal corruption on voluntary tax compliance. The study obtained data through questionnaire from a sample size of 1,700 selected randomly out of the population of 11,900 tradesmen and artisans belonging to 17 trade associations in Lagos State, Nigeria. Findings of the study indicate that each of the individual independent variables has significant positive relationship with the dependent variable. The study also suggests that the combined effect of government's accountability, transparency and reduction in fiscal corruption appears to have greater impact on voluntary tax compliance. The paper argues that for most taxable adults to be tax compliant in Nigeria, government must be perceived and seen to be accountable to the citizens, be transparent in its style of governance and be perceived and seen to take necessary steps in reducing the level of corruption in Nigeria.

Keywords: government accountability; transparency; fiscal corruption; voluntary tax compliance; tradesmen; artisans; Nigeria; taxpayer perceptions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2015.071817

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2015 Vol.6 No.3, pp.276 - 299

Published online: 19 Sep 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article