According to a survey study titled “Public Trust in Tax: Global Perspectives 2022” published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), taxpayers in Vietnam are demonstrating high trust in politicians and the media – a key factor in building an economy that is resilient in challenging times.
It is known that since 2017, ACCA and IFAC have begun to collect public comments on their tax system. But this is the first time the ACCA and IFAC survey has focused on countries outside the G20. Reflecting the views of over 5,600 people across 14 countries, this survey—the first that looks beyond the world’s largest economies—provides an insight into whom they trust and what concerns them, backed up by expert opinion from professionals, academics and tax authority officials.
Roundtable survey participants found a lack of trust in politicians as a major barrier to tax engagement with systems. However, respondents in Vietnam were the most likely to report trust in politicians: 69.2% of respondents in the country reported that they either trust or highly trust this source. This far outweighed the next strongest country, Egypt, which saw 41.4% of respondents reporting come degree of trust in politicians.
Egypt and Vietnam were the only countries in which the number of respondents reporting a degree of trust outweighed the number reporting distrust.
The highest prevalence of trust in accountants was seen in Nigeria. Here, 80.4% of respondents stated that they trust or highly trust the profession when dealing with the tax system. The lowest prevalence of distrust was seen in Vietnam, as was also the case when considering attitudes towards politicians. Just 3.6% of respondents in the country stated that they distrust or highly distrust professional tax accountants.
In addition, trust in media is highest in Vietnam and Nigeria, where 61.3% and 59.4% of respondents, respectively, reported some degree of trust. A majority of respondents in Kenya, 53.9% also reported a degree of trust in the media.
Source: ACCA and IFAC (2022), Public Trust in Tax: Global Perspectives 2022, https://www.ifac.org/system/files/publications/files/IFAC-ACCA-Public-Trust-in-Tax-Global-Perspectives-2022.pdf
