Cultura fiscale e istruzione in Italia

In the literature, the relation between education and tax compliance highlights contradictory aspects. On the one hand, the education system may play a key role increasing awareness of the problem of evasion and of the link between taxes and civil rights. On the other hand, higher educated individuals may show a lower tax compliance since they have more tools and opportunities for evading taxes. Moreover, they may show a more critical approach to the fiscal system and the management of public resources. Our analysis aims to evaluate the effect of education on the awareness of tax evasion problem. Compared to previous research, our analysis introduces two innovative approaches. Firstly, we use repeated surveys in order to test if the relation under analysis is constant over time, secondly we adopt a causal approach considering the potential endogeneity of education. The empirical analysis shows that a higher education increases the awareness of tax evasion problem, thus confirming the importance of the education curriculum for promoting tax compliance by citizens.