A study of the impact of culture on tax compliance in China

China's rapid economic growth in the last two decades has been nothing short of a miracle. But this was achieved at a cost. Tax has increasingly become a more important part of China's economic strategy, and yet the issue of tax compliance has long been neglected because there is some level of complacency. Perhaps the assumption of tax authorities in China is that compliance is a given. Tax compliance is much more complex than many would assume. This article argues that culture matters because it lies at the heart of the attitudes and behavioral traits of individuals. Furthermore, while most studies in this field focus on the economic incentives or socio-psychological motivations, cultural aspects are often neglected. This article focuses on individual income tax because this is where the cultural attributes are most apparent. This study proposes a conceptual model of tax compliance based on the salient factors in the idiosyncratic Chinese institutional and socio-cultural context.