Increasing National Tax Compliance via Social Norms
Payment Rate within 23 Days moved from 67.5% to 83% — a +15.5 percentage-point (23% relative) change (sample: 140,000 taxpayers).
Study details
- Challenge
- Overdue tax collection was slow and expensive, straining public coffers. Traditional threat-based communication had diminishing returns.
- Intervention
- The UK Behavioral Insights Team added a single social norm line to payment letters: '9 out of 10 people in the UK pay their taxes on time.' To make it even more salient, they localized the norm: '9 out of 10 people in your local area pay on time.'
- Outcome
- Payment Rate within 23 Days: 67.5% (control) → 83% (treatment); +15.5 pts, 23% relative
- Sample
- 140,000 taxpayers
- Key takeaway
- Adding simple, localized social feedback acts as a powerful motivator by highlighting that late payment is a deviant behavior, rather than standard practice.
- Biases leveraged
- Social ProofFraming Effect
- Source
- Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., & Vlaev, I. (2017). The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance. Journal of Public Economics, 148, 14-31. ↗ source
Cite this page
Behavioral Economics Lab. "Increasing National Tax Compliance via Social Norms." Behavioral Economics Lab, https://behavioraleconomicslab.com/findings/uk-tax-compliance.
Primary source: Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., & Vlaev, I. (2017). The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance. Journal of Public Economics, 148, 14-31.