Factors of Formation of Tax Behavior and Tax Culture at the National Level

This article is devoted to issues of national tax system effectiveness and overcoming existing problems with it. Under the current conditions, taxes are the integral lever of government influence on the country’s market economy. As a result, the level of development of the national economy and the conditions in its social sphere are directly influenced by the state of the tax system. The author considers it possible to ascertain the efficiency of the tax system in the broadest sense, namely as an aggregate level of achievement, by its goals. Those goals are set in accordance with the functions of taxation. However, when they are realized, significant disparities and even narrowed interpretations of functions arise. As a result, the existing tax system is flawed and unable to achieve high operational efficiency. As one of the most important problems, the author singles out the problem of incomplete fiscal performance due to insufficient tax discipline arising from a low level of tax culture. The author offers a proprietary interpretation of the factors influencing the specific actions of tax decision makers. From the point of view of tax culture, they are divided into factions that make up the tax culture, factions formed and determined by the prevailing tax culture, and others developed under the influence of alternate circumstances. The author considers the most complete and logical understanding of tax culture to be the level of citizen awareness of the importance of taxes as a source of financing the existence of the state and the performance of its functions. With this interpretation, it is justified to assume that citizens compare the degree of decline in their levels and quality of life due to their taxes, and increases in the quality of their lives by means of the implementation of social and other public functions. The prevalence of the latter leads to increased tax discipline…and the former to its decrease. Although these assessments are always subjective, they can serve as bases for the formation of objective directions for improving the activities of tax authorities and educational institutions and, by extension, the tax discipline of citizens and the business community. The effects are economically measurable and long-term.