The effect of generalized trust and altruism on tax avoidance in Norway

Abstract

The popularity of research on the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and social concepts has steadily increased and been more emphasized. Prior research on the relationship between social capital and tax avoidance seems to have a common consensus where counties with higher levels of social capital experience less tax avoidance. Using an extensive database with high quality of accounting data from CCGR, complemented with regional data from NSD and SSB, we obtain contradicting results compared to prior research. Our results indicate that higher levels of trust and altruism are associated with higher levels of tax avoidance, arguing that civic perception and firm reputation provide incentives to withstand tax-avoiding activities. The results are robust when we take into account the 2006 Norwegian tax reform and whether the firm is small or not.