Social communication for tax compliance: A study in the perspective of fiscal psychology

Despite the large literature that psychology has provided during the last 30 years about fiscal evasion, so far scarce attention has been given to social communication campaigns on tax compliance. The present study aims to provide a first exploration on the subject, with the objective of better understanding how social communication campaigns might deal with the topic of tax compliance, using as a theoretical background the slippery slope framework. The exploration relies on qualitative methods, and it is based on a semiotic approach in two steps: first, an analysis of the strate gies realized in two tv-ads promoted by the Italian Government in 2011 to contrast tax evasion; second, an analysis of the reactions to the tv-ads as expressed by citizens in social media (YouTube). Results discuss two main communicative strategies (ethical and punitive) that can be adopted to approach tax evasion, coherently with the dimensions of the slippery slope framework.