Institutional time and collective behavior: end-of-week school absenteeism as a social pattern.

Tax reform is increasingly viewed as a behavioral intervention in contemporary fiscal policy rather than merely an administrative or revenue-generating tool. Modern fiscal theory emphasizes that the effectiveness of tax reforms is influenced not only by their design and implementation but also by taxpayers' perceptions, understanding, and behavioral responses to institutional change (; ; ). In that regard, voluntary tax compliance has become the primary issue of scholarly and policy concern, as it has become the pillar of sustainable government revenue and an additional contributor to the enforcement of the fiscal social contract (; OECD, ; ). The behavioral public finance also highlights the fact that the perceived fairness, trust, and institutional legitimacy influence compliance decisions, thus not just limiting to the explanations of deterrence (; ; ). In this paradigm of behavior, rationalization and simplification of tax rates are broadly discussed as the main reform tools which are aimed to decrease compliance costs of taxpayers, improve transparency and increase taxpayer confidence (; ). However, the empirical experience shows that the perception of fairness can be undermined when complex tax systems are present (i.e., with several rate slabs, frequent changes, and vague categorizations), which reduces the Tax Morale (TM Theory) and discourages self-compliance, especially in the case of small enterprises with limited administrative resources (; ; ). These results highlight the need to question behavioral reactions of reforming taxation in particular institutional and sectoral settings. One of the biggest indirect tax reforms to have been made in a developing economy is the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India in 2017. This reform was also to streamline the taxation framework and do away with the cascading effects and consolidate various types of central and state indirect taxes into a single framework (). The later experience, however, showed that there are still consistent challenges, such as a multi-slab rate system, frequent change of rates, classification controversy, inverted duty frameworks, and high compliance expenses (; ). These complexities have also led to compliance fatigue, increased uncertainty, and reduced trust in taxpayers and therefore there are concerns on whether voluntary compliance can be sustained over the long run.