IMPACT OF TAX-SYSTEM-FAMILIARITY ON TAXPAYERS ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE INCOME TAX SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA

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IMPACT OF TAX-SYSTEM-FAMILIARITY ON TAXPAYERS ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE INCOME TAX SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA Fernando SDMC 1, Perera DAM 2 Department of Accountancy, Faculty of Business Studies and Finance, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Kuliyapitiya 1 malindaneth@gmail.com, 2 methsila240@yahoo.com ABSTRACT A country s fiscal and taxation system is a major determinant of macro-economic policy and sustainable growth, particularly in areas such as government revenue, public debt, fiscal deficit, inflation as well as resource allocation, income distribution and economic stability. The aim of this study is to access the impact of tax-system-familiarity (ITSF) on income taxpayers (INTP) attitudes towards the tax system in Sri Lanka. A total number of hundred individual taxpayers (N=100), who were randomly selected from Kandy and Kurunegala districts, were administered and questionnaires have distributed to the respondents. A sample survey was conducted to gather data from the sample. ITSF was measured in terms of three variables, which were identified from previous research works, including; (1) taxpayer awareness in tax return (RET), (2) taxpayers awareness in tax interpretation (INT) and (3) taxpayer s awareness in new tax concepts (CON). Survey questionnaire was designed in a way to access these three independent variables, together with the taxpayer s attitudes towards income tax system in Sri Lanka. Pearson correlation and linear regression tools were adopted to test the hypotheses. The researchers have adopted the five-point Likert scale rating method (1= strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree) for this study. Only 58 (i.e. 58 percent) questionnaires were dully completed and returned and all were used in the analysis. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17 was employ in the different analyses to run the results. This study found that the individual taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka could not be significantly affected by the taxpayer s awareness in (1) tax return, and (2) the new concepts in tax system. Still, a significant and weak positive relationship was found between the income taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation and the attitudes towards the existing income tax system in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Attitudes, Awareness, Individual Tax Payers, Tax system JEL Classification: H26 1. INTRODUCTION Tax is a major fund execution method in both the developing and developed countries. The concept of tax was initiated from Great Britain in 1799 to collect revenue for the government to manage the war against France. Yet, income tax system was regularly begun from 1840 onwards in different countries in the world. According to the different sources, income tax was begun from 1840 in Switzerland, 1849 in Austria, 1860 in England and India, 1862 in USA, 1864 in Italy and 1959 in Nepal as a regular source of government revenue. Sri Lanka also has a long journey in charging income tax. As per the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), income tax was first introduced in Sri Lanka in 1932, and the first year of assessment was 1931/1932. In Sri Lanka, revenues collected from the individual income tax are an important source of income for the government. In respect of a person who is deemed to be resident in Sri Lanka is chargeable with income tax in respect of his income from Sri Lanka and income derived by him from outside Sri Lanka. The liability to income tax therefore extends to his global income. A person who is deemed to be non-resident in Sri Lanka is chargeable with income tax in respect of only the profits and income, arising or derived from Sri Lanka (IRD, 2015). Necessary provisions on charging income tax are given by the Inland Revenue Act No. 10 of 2006 as amended by Inland Revenue Amendment Acts No. 10 of 2007, 9 of 2008, 19 of 2009, 22 of 2011, 8 of 2012, 18 of 2013 and 08 of 2014. Currently, Sri Lanka s fiscal and taxation system is at a critical juncture (Waidyasekera, 2016). While overall GDP as well as per capita income have been steadily increasing, the total government revenue and tax revenue have been decreasing over time (Table 1).

Table 01: Personal Income Tax and GDP growth in Sri Lanka Indicator Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Real GDP growth % 8.0 8.2 9.1 3.4 5.0 4.8 GDP at current MP Rs. Bn. 5,604 6,543 8,732 9,592 10,361 10,952 Per capita GDP US$ 2,397 2,836 3,351 3,609 3,821 3,843 Tax on Income Rs. Mn. 135,623 157,309 172,593 205,666 198,115 262,583 Personal Income Tax Rs. Mn. 30,993 24,785 21,413 27,337 30,529 38,152 PI tax growth % (20.0) (13.6) 27.7 11.7 24.9 PI to GDP % 0.54 0.38 0.24 0.28 0.30 0.35 Source: CBSL, 2015 As indicated in the table 01, throughout the period, the personal income tax revenue to GDP at current market price is less than one percent. Also, year 2011 and 2012, it shows a negative growth. Moreover, during 2010-2015, country GDP (at current market price) has increased by 95.4 percent, per capita GDP has increased by 60.3 percent, and tax on income has increased by 93.6 percent, whereas personal income tax has increased only by 23.1 percent. The purpose of this research was to expose the individual taxpayers knowledge, their perception, and familiarity on income tax system in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the overall objective of this study is to empirically examine the impact of tax-system-familiarity (ITSF) on taxpayers attitudes (TPAT) towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Its specific objectives include: (1) to examine the impact of taxpayer s tax interpretation knowledge on their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka, (2) to examine the impact of taxpayer s new tax concepts knowledge on their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka, and (3) to examine the taxpayer s tax return awareness on their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Tax System in Ancient Sri Lanka Historical records, inscriptions and ancient literature provide us with abundant information regarding an organized tax system spanning from the time before Christ up to the introduction ofthe modern tax system in the country. Inscriptional records from the 3rd century BC provide information regarding the taxes paid for the consumption of water for agricultural purposes and the taxes were collected on behalf of the state by the officials. These taxes were mainly in kind and called Dakapathi and Bojakapathi (DIR, 2015). There are reliable evidences that, from the very ancient times, in Sri Lanka taxes were collected at the point of import and export. For example, during the Anuradhapura period there were officials named as Mahapatuladda who was responsible for collecting import and export duties at Mahattita (Mannar). Godawaya the harbour at Hambantota was another point where taxes were collected at the point of import and export (DIR, 2015). Moreover, Inland Revenue department sources reveal that from the 2 nd century BC land tax had been in existence according to inscriptional records. Robert Knox, landed in the country in 1660, explains how the taxes were collected three times a year and how the collected taxes were directed to the king s treasury. According to Knox s record there had been different rates of taxes and taxes paid in kind. Such items included gems, wine, oil, Corn, Honey, wax, cloth, iron tobacco and even elephant teeth (DIR, 2015). At the time of the British colonial rule there had been instances where taxes with adverse effect on people were removed for the welfare of the people. For instance, in 1882 paddy tax which was in existence was abolished in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka (GA s Report - 1882). In 1893 taxes were levied on wheat flour, rice, sugar, tobacco and cotton (GA s Report 1893, Eastern Province). Accordingly, there is sufficient evidence to show that tax in some form or other was levied from the dynasty of King Saddatissa in Anuradhapura kingdom to dynasty of King Narendrasinghe in Kandyan Kingdom. During these periods there was a direct relationship between taxation and the service provided by the King to his people (DIR, 2015). The history of taxation in Sri Lanka is summarized in Table 02.

Year 1932 Income Tax Department was established 1932 Income tax (1)* was first introduced Table 02: History of Taxation in Sri Lanka Milestone 1932 Mr. N. J. Huxham was appointed as the first Commissioner to administer tax 1933 Renamed the department as Department of Income Tax, Estate Duty and Stamps 1941 Excess Profits Duty (2*) introduced 1948 Profit Tax introduced instead of Excess Profits Duty introduced 1950 First Double Tax agreement signed with U. K. 1958 Named the Department as Department of Inland Revenue, Introduced Capital gain (3*), Wealth Tax (4*), Expenditure Tax (5*), Gifts Tax (6*) 1961 Introduced of Surcharge on Income Tax (7*) National Development Tax (8*) Rice subsidiary Tax (9*) Surtax, a tax on registration of Business and Professionals (10*), Sales Tax (11*) 1963 Established first Region office at Jaffna, Introduced Business Turnover Tax (12*) 1964 First Tax Amnesty 1971 Introduced Compulsory Saving Levy (13*), PAYE Scheme (14*), Capital Levy (15*) 1972 Self-Assessment Scheme introduced 1974 The Department of Inland Revenue restructured, Inland Revenue Service was established 1979 Current year basis taxation introduced 1983 Introduced Rehabilitation Levy (16*) 1985 Abolished Estate Duty & Gifts Tax 1986 Introduced WHT on Interest (17*) 1988 Introduced Betting and Gaming Levy (18*), Implemented Imputation System of Company Tax 1991 Devolution of Turnover Tax to Provincial Councils 1992 Introduced WHT on Specified Fee (19*) Defence Levy (20*) 1998 Introduced Goods and Service Tax (GST) (21*) instead of Turnover Tax 2000 Inland Revenue Act No. 38 of 2000 2002 Introduced Value Added Tax (VAT) and Debits Tax (22*), Abolished GST, Defence Levy (NSL), Stamp Duty 2004 Introduced Economic Service Charge (23*) 2005 Introduced Social Responsibility Levy (24*) and Share Transaction Levy (25*) 2009 Introduced Nation Building Tax (NBT) * Types of taxes in Sri Lanka Source: DPR (2016), D P R Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd, History of taxation in Sri Lanka, www.taxsrilanka.com 2. LITERATURE REVIEW White et al. (1990) in their experimental study on tax students examined that, a formal class in taxation would enhance their knowledge about the law and appreciation of fiscal policy goals, thus increasing perceived fairness. Further, they suggested that, tax knowledge and fairness perceptions, scholars should have investigated possible ways to improve tax knowledge among taxpayers, and so their fairness perceptions.

In 2016, Redae and Shailinder attempted to study the taxpayers knowledge and tax compliance behavior in Ethiopia. Study result indicated that tax compliance behavior of tax payers influenced by tax payers tax knowledge. Based on these findings, they suggested that, policy makers, tax authority and government should do further study to know in which extent tax payers tax knowledge is influence noncompliance behavior in the study area. Robert et al (1994) on their article, examine how tax payers compliance behavior affected by tax knowledge and perception. Result has indicated that, principle of attitudes being affected by better tax knowledge and demonstrates that it holds other attitude dimensions as well as the fairness of enlightened tax compliance behavior of tax payers. Interestingly, contradictory results found by Collins, Milliron, and Toy (1992), in their article on Determinants of tax compliance: A contingency approach, in which, they found that tax knowledge and the level of education were negatively correlated with compliance behavior. The scholars further suggested that, knowledge about tax law is expected to be of importance for preferences and attitudes towards taxation in USA. Rini (2014) in his article on tax awareness and tax education: A perception of potential taxpayers, inspect background and ethical tax awareness between business and non -business students and evaluate their perception if tax is significant therefore they need to learn since it is unavoidable obligation. Study result indicated that, there is no significant difference contextual tax awareness between the two groups those are business and non- business students. Finally researcher suggested that, there is importance of tax training and the essential to have tax as a subject between the groups. The business students mostly believe that the knowledge will be useful for their future than the other groups. Kay Blaufus, and his team (2013) uncovered the perception of income tax rates among tax payers in Germany. This study provides evidence that the perceived income tax rates significantly deviate from the objective tax rates for the majority of taxpayers. Besides, researchers propose that the degree of misperception can be partly explained by the individual s level of education, income, and whether the individual included social security contribution in their income tax rate estimation. Mohamad et al (2007) examine the effects of knowledge on tax compliance behaviour among Malaysian taxpayers. They have divided the tax knowledge in to groups those are, knowledge explicitly focused at possible opportunities to evade tax and knowledge gained through formal education. Study result indicated that, regarding the rules and regulation of the taxation, the level of education received by taxpayers is an important factor that contributes to the general understanding. 3. METHODOLOGY The main objective of this study was to understand the ITSF (i.e. tax interpretation knowledge, new tax concepts knowledge, and tax return awareness) on taxpayers attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. A total of 100 individual taxpayers were interviewed. Sample was selected randomly from Kandy and Kurunegala districts, and questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. A sample survey, based on a survey questionnaire, was conducted to gather data from the respondents. Survey questionnaire was designed to measure the (1) tax payer s attitudes towards tax system among individual taxpayers in Sri Lanka, (2) taxpayer awareness in tax return (RET), (3) taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation (INT) and (4) taxpayer s awareness in new tax concepts (CON). The conceptual framework of this study is depicted in Figure 01 below. Taxpayer s Education Simplicity of Tax System Taxpayer s Awareness Income Tax System Awareness of Tax Return [RET] Awareness of Tax Interpretation [INT] Awareness of New Concepts [CON] [CON] Figure 01: Conceptual Model O 2 H 2 O 3 H 3 O 4 H 4 O 1 H 1 Attitudes towards the Income Tax System in Sri Lanka

Y ATS = +β RET X RET + β INT X INT + β CON X CON + Where: Y ATS X RET X INT X CON ε = Error term. = TPAT towards the Income Tax System = Awareness of Tax Return = Awareness of Tax Interpretation = Awareness of New Tax Concepts Population of this research is individual taxpayers in Sri Lanka, which consist of several educational level people. Sample was chosen by using proportional random sample based on individual taxpayers in three groups. (1) Higher educational level individual taxpayers Individual taxpayers who are passed degree or other professional examination, (2) Middle educational level individual taxpayers - Individual taxpayers who are passed Advanced level examination, and (3) Lower educational level individual taxpayers Individual taxpayers who are passed grade five level examination. Both open-ended and closed-ended questions were included the survey questionnaire. The researchers have adopted the five-point Likert scale rating method (where; 1= strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree) for this study. Most of the taxpayers anxious to provide all the details requested which resultant comparatively low respondent rate; in this study, only 58 (i.e. 58 percent) questionnaires were dully completed and returned and all were used in the analysis. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17 was employ in the different analyses to run the results. Statistical tests were performed in order to ensure that the reliability and the validity measures were met. With an error level of 5%, no significant deviations between the sample and the population could be identified. Pearson correlation and linear regression tools were adopted to test the hypothesis. Hypotheses H 1 : There is a significant and positive relationship between taxpayer s familiarities of tax system and their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka H 2 : There is a significant and positive relationship between individual tax payer s awareness in tax return and their attitudes towards the income tax system H 3 : There is a significant and positive relationship between individual income taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation and their attitudes towards the income tax system H 4 : There is a significant and positive relationship between individual income tax payer s awareness in new tax concepts and their attitudes towards the income tax system 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The main objective of this study was to empirically examine the impact of taxpayer s familiarity in income tax system on the taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Also researchers have attempted to examine the impact of taxpayer s (1) knowledge in tax interpretation, (2) knowledge in new tax concepts, and (3) knowledge in tax return, on the income taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 58 individual taxpayers selected from two districts (Kandy and Kurunegala) through a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Descriptive Statistics of the Sample The total sample was categorized into four categories under age, occupation, gender, and education (Table 3).

Table 03: Sample Profile Age % Occupation % Gender % Education % Between 18-23 03.4 Businessman 51.7 Female 44.8 Up to grade 10 13.8 Between 24-30 13.8 Between 31-40 24.1 Employee in Private Sec. Employee in Public Sec. 31.0 Male 55.2 (G.C.E) O/L 27.6 13.8 (G.C.E) A/L 31.0 Between 41-50 37.9 Land Owners 03.5 Degree 10.4 Above 50 20.7 Others Professional 13.8 Postgraduate 03.4 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Table 03 shows that the sample was dominated by male taxpayers (55.2 percent) and most of these taxpayers have studied up to G.C.E. Advanced Level (31.0 percent), which is followed by G.C.E. Ordinary Level (27.6 percent). Remarkably, more than 58 percent of taxpayers in the sample are above 41 years of age; only 3.4 percent of respondents accepted that they are belong to 18-23 age-group. Moreover, most of the respondents (51.7 percent) identified them as Businessman, and it is followed by the private sector employees (31.0 percent), the public sector employees (13.8 percent), and the land owners (3.5 percent). Reliability of the measures Cronbach s Alpha is used to assess the reliability and internal consistency of the data set. Results indicate 0.876 Cronbach s Alpha coefficient, showing a high internal reliability among the data gathered from the sample. Descriptive Analysis As shown in the conceptual framework, this study focuses on the impact of taxpayer s awareness in tax return, new tax concepts, and interpretation of tax on their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Number of questions was developed under the each variable, and respondents were asked to scale their views on five-point Lickert scale (where; 1- totally disagree and 5 - totally agree). The mean values, together with their standard deviations are given table 04. Table 04: Mean and SD Values of Variables Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Awareness in tax return 1.67 3.67 2.4483.49822 Awareness in new tax concept 1.83 4.00 3.0230.50143 Awareness in tax interpretation 2.40 3.80 3.2483.46107 Attitudes towards tax system 1.40 3.00 2.2759.44534 The outcomes given in the table 04 suggest that the attitudes of taxpayers towards the existing income tax system are comparatively poor, and with low mean value (x = 2.28, SD =.4453) they have shown their displeasure towards it. Income taxpayer knowledge in tax return (x = 2.45, SD =.4982) also found to be very low. This infers that the taxpayers have less awareness in their tax return. Further, the results show that the taxpayer knowledge in new tax concepts (x = 3.02, SD =.5014) and tax interpretation (x = 3.25, SD =.4611) are comparatively low ( 3.5). The relationship between ITSF and INTP s attitudes towards the tax system Correlation coefficient analysis was used to measure the direction and the strength of the linear relationship between variables. Table 05 and 06 shows the linear relationship between independent variables and the taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system of Sri Lanka.

Table 05: Correlation between the AINTP s and ITSF AINTP ITSF Pearson Correlation 1 -.116 Sig. (2-tailed).549 Pearson Correlation 1.00 N 58 58 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Figures in table 05 suggest that there is no significant relationship between the familiarity of income tax system (ITSF) and the taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system (AINTP) in Sri Lanka (r = -.116, p >.05). These results do not support the first hypothesis of this study, which assumes that there is a significant and positive relationship between taxpayer s familiarities of tax system and their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Since the ITSF is measured on taxpayer s awareness in new tax concepts, tax return, and tax interpretation, correlation coefficient analysis was used to measure the direction and the strength of the linear relationship between AINTP and these influential factors. The outcome of the analysis is given in table 06 below; Table 06: Correlation between the AINTP s and Its Influential Factors AINTP Aw. CON Aw. RET Aw. INT Pearson Correlation 1.00 -.317 -.228.409 * Sig. (2-tailed).094.233.027 Pearson Correlation 1.00.779 ** -.636 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.000 Pearson Correlation 1.00 -.613 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000 N 58 58 58 58 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Where: AINTP - Taxpayer s attitudes towards the existing income tax system, Aw. CON - Taxpayer s awareness in new tax concepts, Aw. RET - Taxpayer s awareness in tax return, Aw. INT - Taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation Pearson correlation coefficients in the table 06 indicate that both income taxpayer s awreness in new tax concepts (Aw. CON) and tax returns (Aw. RET) does not have any significat correlation between the taxpayer s attitudes towards the existing income tax system in Sri Lanka (p >.05). These findings reject the third hypothesis (H 3 : There is a significant and positive relationship between individual income taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation and their attitudes towards the income tax system) and the forth hypothesis (H 4 : There is a significant and positive relationship between individual income tax payer s awareness in new tax concepts and their attitudes towards the income tax system) of this study. Yet, a significant and weak positive relationship was found between the income taxpayer s awreness in tax interpretation (Aw. INT) and the taxpayer s attitudes towards the existing income tax system in Sri Lanka (r =.409, p<0.05). This findings partially supports the second hypothesis, which assumes a

significant and positive relationship between individual tax payer s awareness in tax return and their attitudes towards the income tax system. Regression Analysis Table 07 contains the result of the analysis of variance associated with the regression model and it is included sum of squares, degree of freedom, F value and P value. The F distribution is used to obtain information regarding the overall validity of the simple linear regression equation. This provides the idea about up to which extent the model is fitted. It is revealed that out of total sum of square (5.553), the proportion of 1.015 can be explained by regression and the rest of 4.538 are explained by residual. Therefore, it can be stated that model was not fitted well because small proportion is contributed or explained by regression. Table 07: Analysis of Variance for Simple Linear Regression Model Sum of Squares df F Significant Regression 1.015 6 1.864.162 b Residual 4.538 51 Total 5.553 57 a. Dependent Variable: Taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system b. b. Predictors: (Constant), awareness on Tax interpretaion. Tax return, New tax concepts The calculated F value (1.864) is greater than table value of 0.994 (p > 0.05), suggests that the model applied in this study is statistically insignificant (Table 07). Table 08: Simple regression linear analysis - Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate 1.428a.183.085.42606 a. Predictors: (Constant), awareness on Tax interpretation. Tax return, New tax concepts According to table 08, the R value is 0.428, which indicates a low degree of correlation. The R 2 value (Coefficient of determination) indicates how much of the dependent variable, "Taxpayer s Attitudes", can be explained by the independent variables, "Taxpayer s awareness on Tax interpretation. Tax return, and New tax concepts". In this study, R Square for the model is obtained as 0.183, which suggested that only 18.3 percent of variation in dependent variable is explained by independent variables. Model Table 09: Coefficient Analysis Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients B Std. Error Beta (Constant) 1.268 1.276.994.330 Awareness in tax interpretation.368.233.381 1.576.128 Awareness in new tax concept -.179.270 -.202 -.662.514 Awareness in tax return.145.266.162.544.591 a. Dependent Variable: Taxpayer s Attitudes Using the figures in table 09, a regression model of this study can be presented as follows; Y ATS = 1.268 +.145XRET +.368XINT -.179XCON + e Where: Y ATS X RET = TPAT towards the Income Tax System = Awareness of Tax Return t Sig.

X INT X CON = Awareness of Tax Interpretation = Awareness of New Tax Concepts Besides, all the beta values in the model are found to be insignificant (p >.05). Therefore, conceptual model used for this study is found to be not suitable. 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Income tax system of a country plays an essential role in economic development. Hence, it is important for a country to understand the taxpayer s attitudes towards to the tax system, and in turn to respond to their changes and to adapt timely to continual change. Therefore, this study attempted to empirically examine the impact of tax-system-familiarity on taxpayer s attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Also, it attempted to examine the impact of tax payer s awareness in tax interpretation, new tax concepts, and tax return on their attitudes towards the income tax system in Sri Lanka. Results of this study underlined that the attitudes of taxpayers towards the existing income tax system are comparatively poor and most of the taxpayers shown their unhappiness towards the existing income tax system. Further, the knowledge of income taxpayer on tax return, new tax concepts, and tax interpretation are found to be comparatively low. Correlation coefficients indicate that the strength of the linear relationship between the taxpayer s familiarity of income tax system and their attitudes towards the income tax system of Sri Lanka is insignificant. Moreover, results designated that both income taxpayer s awareness in new tax concepts and awareness in tax returns does not have any significat correlation between the taxpayer s attitudes towards the existing income tax system. Nevertheless, a significant and weak positive relationship was found between the income taxpayer s awareness in tax interpretation and the taxpayer s attitudes towards the existing income tax system in Sri Lanka. The analysis of variance associated with the regression model suggested that the model used in this study was not well-fitted and it is statistically insignificant. Comparatively small percent of variation in dependent variable is explained by independent variables used in this model. Therefore, in future research, expanding the model with more influential variable on the tax payer s attitudes is found to be essential. REFERENCES Anon., 2015. Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report. [Online] Available at: http://www.cbsl.gov.lk/pics_n_docs/10_pub/_docs/efr/annual_report/ar2015/english/content. htm. Collins, J.H..M.V.C..T.D.R., 1992. Determinants of tax compliance: A contingency approach. The Journal of American Taxation Association, 14(2), pp.1-2. Consultants, D., 2016. DPR Tax Sri Lanka. [Online] Available at: http://www.taxsrilanka.com/. Kay Blaufus, J.B.J.C.S.D.K.J.W., 2013. Perception of income tax rates: evidence from Germany. Eur J Law Econ, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Mohamad A.A., M.H.a.A.M., 2007. The effects of knowledge on tax compliance behaviors among Malaysian taxpayers, Tokyo, Japan. Performance Report, 2015. Sri Lanka Inland Revenue. [Online] Available at: http://www.ird.gov.lk/en/publications/annual%20performance%20report_documents/pr_2015_ E.pdf. Redae B.R., a.s.s., 2016. Taxpayers Knowledge and Tax Compliance Behavior in Ethiopia: A Study of Tigray State. International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations, ISSN 2348-7585 (Online, 3(2), pp.1090-102. RiniHastuti, 2014. Tax awareness and tax education: A perception of potential taxpayers. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, 5, pp.83-91.

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