In tax behavior research, “slippery slope” framework represents an important instrument of assessing compliance, based on its two dimensions: trust in authorities (citizens’ perceptions regarding authorities’ disposition to work for the sake, safety and benefit of people) and power of authorities (authorities’ ability to chase, catch and punish evaders). The increase/decrease of trust and power as well as their interlacement engender the type of compliance, i.e., voluntary or enforced, and ultimately the profile of the interaction climate between taxpayers and authorities. In this paper we explain taxpayers’ trust in authorities and their perceptions of authorities’ power with the help of socio-economic, financial, political, psychological proxies in eastern and southern Asian jurisdictions like China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and Pakistan. For this purpose, we tackle several aspects, such as political regime, voice and accountability, political stability, citizens’ involvement in public decisions, tax law transparency, degree in which citizens receive information about public expenditures and indicators, such as government effectiveness, rule of law, regulatory quality, control for corruption, weaving them into an attire of analytical insights meant to serve policy makers and inform laypeople.