Measuring Tax Burden in Türkiye: Structural Equality Model Analysis

Abstract

People in Türkiye often complain about the high tax burden. The study aims to measure the objective tax burden, which can be calculated mathematically, and the subjective tax burden, which is stated to be very difficult to measure in the literature. The study utilised Structural Equation Modelling for this purpose. It concluded that income level and tax payable are effective on objective tax burden. In contrast, tax fairness, complexity, trust in government, and citizenship awareness effectively reduce subjective tax burdens. The study differs from the literature in that the subjective tax burden (58%) is higher than the objective tax burden (25%, 33%). The study makes unique and important contributions to the literature in this context.