Tax compliance across sociodemographic categories: Meta-analyses of survey studies in 111 countries

•Correlations tax compliance & age, sex, education, income show inconsistent results.•4 meta-analyses, 459 samples (N = 614,286) from 111 countries published 1958-2012.•Effect sizes r = 0.12 (age), r = 0.06 (sex), r = −0.02 (education), r = −0.04 (income).•Sociodemographic characteristics should be controlled for in tax research.

Tax compliance varies across sociodemographic categories. However, research on the relationships between compliance and age, sex, education as well as income level shows inconsistent results, both regarding the direction of the relationship and its size. The current meta-analyses target to merge findings in survey studies on age, sex, education, and income and estimate the strength of the impact on compliance by taking into account geographical regions. In four meta-analyses, comprising 459 samples (N = 614,286) from 111 countries published between 1958 and 2012, average estimated effect sizes were small, ranging from r = 0.12 for the relationship between compliance and age, r = 0.06 for sex, r = −0.02 for education to r = −0.04 for income. These effects are more pronounced in Western countries. It thus appears sociodemographic characteristics have little impact on compliance, but nevertheless should be controlled for in tax research.