Fiscal Illussion As Public Economy Failure: A Study on the Aegean Region

Abstract

With the fiscal illusion, which is seen as a failure of the public economy, individuals cannot fully and accurately perceive their tax burden. As a result, more public good services are demanded and expenditures increase. The excessive increase in public expenditures returns toindividualsbyincreasingtaxburdens.Fiscalillusions,which arise due to reasons such as the complexity of the tax system, automatic increases in taxes, and the preference for borrowing or printing money instead of taxation, prevent the individual and the state from making rational decisions. Failure to makerational decisions negatively affects the economic and financial power of both the individual and the state, leading to a decrease in social welfare. Therefore, it is important to determine the level of financial illusion and minimise it. The current study determines the level of financial illusion by the survey method and to present various policy recommendations according to the results. In this context, f inancial illusion levels were measured by applying a survey to 608 individuals in the Aegeanregion. Thedata obtained from the survey wereanalysed using the SPSS 22 package programme. According to the results of the study, the financial illusion level of the individuals participating in the survey is above average. However, the level of financial illusion increases as age and income level increases and, decreases as education level increases. In addition, it was determined that the financial illusion level of men, singles and Aydın was higher than their groups

Keywords

• public economics
• market economics
• public choice theory
• fiscal illusion
• survey