Don’t be surprised if you start receiving letters from HMRC telling you that “nine out of 10 people in the UK pay their tax on time”. According to a new study, billions of pounds of extra tax could be raised for HMRC if they used messaging telling people who have not paid their tax that they are in a minority. Behavioural scientists say that tapping into our ‘social norm bias’ significantly increases tax payment rates. Researchers estimate that £4.9m of tax repayment was accelerated during a 23-day sample period due to the use of such messages.
