EDUCATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE FOR TAX CITIZENSHIP THROUGH DIGITAL GAMES

Abstract

In a society where there are high levels of tax evasion, the need to create a responsible tax conscience becomes an urgent measure. In this sense, tax education is a necessary process to change attitudes towards the tax system. This process should be as comprehensive as possible, involving various actors in society and starting at the basis of the formation of the personality and values of citizens. As such, the tax education process should start with the youngest members of society, involving educators, parents, and teachers, not forgetting the fundamental role of the Tax Authority, whose main objective should be to induce taxpayers to voluntarily comply with their obligations. For many years, games were considered the antithesis of learning. However, in the last decade there has been a very strong interconnection between games and education, helping people to experiment, explore and test. Education for fiscal citizenship seen from the emerging perspective of global citizenship education is oriented towards the need for a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, safe and sustainable society. Therefore, its learning should be carried out throughout life accompanied by flexible pedagogical approaches that allow the use of information and communication technologies to reach different audiences. For this reason, “gamification” or the use of so-called “serious games” is identified as a catalyst for social change, giving an interactive and transversal character to the experiences that constitute the field of education for fiscal citizenship through the creation of scenarios that place the player in problematic situations that they will encounter in reality. In view of the above, the aim of this work is to reflect on the importance of tax education in Portugal, the role of young people and the use of digital games as a useful tool for this process. The work presented results essentially from research and literature review related to the theme, analysing what has been done in several countries, namely in Europe, and the method was based essentially on documentary and bibliographical research.