HE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NORMS, TRUST IN GOVERNMENT, PERCEPTION OF TAX JUSTICE, PERCEPTION OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING, AND GENDER ON INDIVIDUAL TAX PAYER COMPLIANCE IN SEMARANG CITY

Abstract

Tax compliance is a crucial factor in ensuring the sustainability of national revenue, especially in Indonesia, where the compliance rate remains suboptimal. This study aims to explore the effects of social norms, trust in government, perception of tax justice, perception of government spending, and gender on individual taxpayer compliance in Semarang City.

Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Attribution Theory, this research adopts a quantitative approach, using a structured questionnaire administered to 200 individual taxpayers. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

The findings reveal that social norms (descriptive, injunctive, subjective, and personal), trust in government, perceptions of tax justice, perceptions of government spending, and gender significantly influence taxpayer compliance in Semarang City. Descriptive norms (t = 3.972, p = 0.000), injunctive norms (t = 3.086, p = 0.015), subjective norms (t = 4.030, p = 0.000), and personal norms (t = 2.967, p = 0.003) all have positive and significant effects on tax compliance. Trust in government also positively impacts the perception of tax justice (t = 3.148, p = 0.002), which in turn strongly influences tax compliance (t = 8.563, p = 0.000). Trust in government has a direct effect on tax compliance (t = 2.333, p = 0.020) and an indirect effect mediated by tax justice (t = 2.879, p = 0.004). Perceptions of government spending (t = 2.719, p = 0.007) and gender (t = 2.444, p = 0.015) also significantly influence tax compliance, where men exhibit higher compliance rates compared to women. These results underscore that non-economic factors rooted in social and psychological dimensions are crucial in shaping tax compliance behavior.