Determinants of the Tax Compliance and Fairness Perceptions of Taxpayers on the online Tax System. A Case of Ghana

Abstract

Crentsil Kofi Agyekum, Isaac Arkoh, Safia Ibrahim and Hamdia B.Hudu

In the face of the growing digital economy of Ghana, the Ghana revenue authority as part of its goal to increase domestic revenue mobilization has introduced an online tax system. The objective of the study is to determine the determinants of taxpayers’ perception of the fairness of the tax system and the determinants of their tax compliance. Data were collected using questionnaires from 380 respondents and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Stata version 14. Results showed that there is a negative relationship between tax compliance and tax complexity. Educational level and income levels have a positive relationship with tax compliance. The people of Winneba generally have a poor perception of the fairness of the tax structure. Tax knowledge, compliance cost, and tax usage were significant determinants of the fairness perception of the people of Winneba. In this regard, the study recommends that policymakers should direct policy drafting to ease the resource cost the tax structure poses on the taxpayers, intensify tax education, and also further simplify the tax complexity.

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