Political Alignment, Attitudes Toward Government, and Tax Evasion

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of US personal income taxes. As turnover elections move voters partisan counties into and out alignment with party president, we find (i) taxpayers report more easily evaded forms income; (ii) suspect EITC claims decrease; (iii) audits triggered found to owe additional tax decrease. Coupled evidence that leads favorable views on taxation spending, our results provide real world positive outlook lowers evasion. (JEL D72, H24, H26, H31)