Measuring Tax Literacy In A Politically Charged Climate

Michael Conklin (Texas A&M; Google Scholar) & John Weatherford (Western Carolina), Measuring Tax Literacy in a Politically Charged Climate, 102 Tex. L. Rev. Online 1 (2021):

This Article reports the findings of a survey measuring tax literacy on politically charged issues, such as how much high-income earners and large corporations pay in taxes. The results illuminate numerous aspects of tax literacy, including differences based on gender, socioeconomic status, and political affiliation. This study also uncovers novel internal inconsistencies between policy preferences and stated beliefs about taxation. This finding highlights the effects of deceptive media coverage and deceptive political rhetoric. Other topics discussed include the importance of tax literacy to a democracy, the ability of tax education to improve tax literacy, and the association between tax literacy and tax compliance.

The importance of tax literacy would be difficult to overstate. A basic understanding of taxes has the potential to affect decisions in nearly every aspect of one’s life. Tax rates have even been shown to influence athletic performance in professional athletes. Tax literacy also affects a wide array of other academic disciplines. Much economic literature is premised on the assumption that taxpayers make decisions based on an accurate understanding of the effects they will have on taxation. This assumption is also fundamental to the study of public finance. Therefore, low tax-literacy rates call into question broad methodological assumptions in much research.

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