Keywords

State taxation, sales and use tax, tax compliance, economic development, tax policy

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three separate but interrelated studies examining the antecedents and consequences of sales and use tax (SUT) policy. The first study investigates whether elements of the SUT system influence elements of economic development, and tests whether SUT rates and/or bases influence state-aggregated levels of capital expenditures and employment within the manufacturing sector from 1983-2006. Results indicate that elements of the tax base (i.e., SUT exemptions) affect these indicators of economic development, but the same relationship was not seen for SUT rates. The second study examines individual taxpayer compliance across different tax settings (i.e., the state use tax compared to the federal income tax) and tests whether differences in detection mechanisms, social norms, or ignorance explain these differences in compliance. Based on a final sample of 148 taxpayers, results show that social norms had an important influence on tax compliance differences across tax settings. The third study investigates the antecedents of states' adoption of the Streamlined Sales & Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) using both a cross-sectional empirical model and an in-depth qualitative case study of three states. Both the model and case study suggest that governmental interest groups, rather than businesses, play an important role in the adoption of inter-jurisdictional tax policy changes. Overall, the three studies within this dissertation all advance the SUT literature by using various theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to demonstrate that governmental interest groups influence the adoption of SUT policy (antecedents), and that SUT provisions in turn influence business and individual decisions alike (consequences).

Notes

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Graduation Date

2009

Advisor

Bobek, Donna

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Business Administration

Department

Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting

Degree Program

Business Administration

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002739

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002739

Language

English

Release Date

July 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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Accounting Commons

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