Citation:

Sassou AGBOLO-NOAMESSI, Paul KABETE, Bernard BAMWEIRA DBA. "Determinants of Tax Compliance Intention: Socio-Economic characteristics and the influence of Tax Religiosity in a Developing Economy" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 44-54, 2025. Crossref. http://doi.org/10.56472/25835238/IRJEMS-V4I10P107

Abstract:

This research explores how a set of socio-economic attributes (age, gender, education, and income) and tax religiosity influence individual taxpayers' intention to comply with taxation in the Grand Lomé metropolitan area in Togo. Using a cross-sectional survey and stratified sampling, we analyzed 343 valid responses from the Office Togolais des Recettes (OTR) registry. Constructs were measured with validated Likert scales and met reliability and validity thresholds. After classical assumption tests, we estimated hierarchical regressions. Results show that education is a strong, positive predictor of compliance intention, while being older than 46 has a significant negative effect. Gender and income are not robust drivers; high income is weakly and negatively associated with compliance. Tax religiosity exerts a powerful direct positive effect across models, but its moderating role is limited; only the interaction with age is marginally significant, slightly offsetting the age-related decline. Model fit is high (R² = 0.717–0.728; ANOVA p = 0.000). Findings suggest that where institutional trust is constrained, tax literacy and moral norms matter greatly. Policy should reinforce taxpayer education, engage religious leaders in pro-compliance messaging, and rebuild trust with older taxpayers. The study contributes Africa-focused evidence to behavioral tax compliance by integrating socio-economic heterogeneity with religiosity in a highly religious setting.

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Keywords:

Tax Compliance Intention; Religiosity; Socio-Economic Factors; Education; Aging; Developing Economy; Togo; OTR.