Tax compliance in a simulated heterogeneous multi-agent society
MABS'05 Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation
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We explore the link between micro-level motivations leading to and being influenced by macro-level outcomes to study the complex issue of tax evasion. If it is obvious why there is a benefit for people who evade taxes, it is less obvious why people would pay any taxes at all, given the the small probability of being caught, and the small penalties involved. We use exploratory simulation and progressively deepening models of agents and of simulations to study the reasons behind tax evasion. We have unveiled some relatively simple social mechanisms that can explain the compliance numbers observed in real economies. We claim that simulation with multiple agents provides a strong methodological tool with which to support the design of public policies.