Does Trust in Government Matter for Tax Compliance? Examining the Roles of Tax Digitalization and National Pride

Muhammad Azis; Adriansyah Adriansyah; Dini Kamilia Salma; Nurkholifah Burhanuddin

doi:10.62794/je3s.v7i5.496

Authors

Muhammad Azis Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia
Adriansyah Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia
Dini Kamilia Salma Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia
Nurkholifah Burhanuddin Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62794/je3s.v7i5.496

Keywords:

tax digitalization, national pride, trust in government, tax compliance

Abstract

This study examines the relationships of tax digitalization and national pride with tax compliance and the mediating role of trust in government. An online survey of 137 respondents in South Sulawesi was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). National pride was positively associated with tax compliance (β = 0.470, p = 0.002), and tax digitalization was positively associated with trust in government (β = 0.373, p = 0.007). The relationships of tax digitalization with tax compliance (β = 0.253, p = 0.068) and national pride with trust in government (β = 0.271, p = 0.077) received only marginal support at the 10% level. Trust in government was not significantly associated with tax compliance (β = −0.062, p = 0.567), and the reported indirect-effect results did not support mediation. The model explained 36.1% of the variance in trust in government and 41.3% in tax compliance. These findings suggest that national pride is relevant to compliance, whereas the evidence for digitalization is more tentative. They do not establish trust as a mediating mechanism in this sample. The cross-sectional design limits causal interpretation.

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