A Moral Appeal for Taxpayer Compliance: The Case for a Mass Media Campaign*

This paper examines the ability of the mass media to enhance compliance with the law by the use of moral appeals. Drawing on the moral development literature and the literature of mass communication effects, we set forth a model for designing mass media campaigns directed at improving compliance with the law. Tax compliance is the issue we analyze. While we determine that no appeal, however well‐crafted, is expected to reform all tax offenders, and that some approaches are likely to produce less rather than more compliance, we identify hallmarks of a potentially successful appeal.