Silvia Filippi is a first-year PhD student in Psychological Sciences at the University of Padua. Her main research interests are economic inequality and wealth redistribution. Specifically, her project focuses on the role of linguistic frames in shaping people’s attitudes towards progressive taxation and tax compliance. She is also interested in topics related to gender equality, collaborating with Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Project description

The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing and negatively impacting a raft of social and health outcomes. Nevertheless, people’s desire for greater equity rarely translates into support for concrete redistribution strategies such as progressive taxation, an effective tool for reducing economic inequalities. Therefore, investigating the barriers to endorsing progressive taxation is crucial. Furthermore, little attention has been given to the role of framing (i.e., the way taxes are presented to citizens). The aim of this project is to identify the barriers to endorsing progressive taxation through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (focusing on the role of social norms, attitudes and perceived behavioural control), as well as to shed light on the effect of tax choice framing on people’s tax compliance.