Fairness perceptions and income tax voluntary compliance among owners of micro enterprises in Jigawa State, Nigeria : the moderating role of trust

Taxation represents a very important source of revenue for the government of any nation for economic growth and is being looked upon as a panacea to the myriad of societal needs. Hence, this study examines the fairness perceptions in Jigawa State and their effects on voluntary tax compliance. Further, the study examined the moderating role of trust in explaining voluntary tax compliance in Jigawa State. For that purpose, a cross sectional study was conducted. 249 questionnaires were collected from the 450 questionnaires issued in Jigawa State. The data was analyzed using SPSS and PLS to answer the research questions. In particular, factor analysis was conducted to determine the type of fairness dimensions in Jigawa State after the amendment of the Personal Income Tax Act 2011. The Partial Least Square (PLS) path modeling was used in examining the relationship between fairness perceptions and voluntary tax compliance and the moderating role of trust. Findings from the factor analysis reveal that there are four dimensions of fairness perceptions in Jigawa State. The dimensions are exchange fairness, horizontal fairness, personal fairness and vertical fairness. Moreover, the results reveal that fairness perceptions and trust in authority have significant and positive relationships with voluntary tax compliance. Additionally, trust moderates the relationship between fairness perceptions and voluntary tax compliance. Based on these findings, the contributions, implications and the limitations of the study were discussed.