Compliance costs caused by agency action? Empirical evidence and implications for tax compliance

Compliance costs of taxpayers should not only be affected by the tax law itself but also by its implementation through the tax authorities. In this paper we analyze the effect of authority behavior on the burden of complying with tax regulations. Using survey data of Belgian businesses, we develop an estimation strategy to overcome simultaneity bias by the construction of proxy variables. According to our estimate, a customer-unfriendly tax administration increases the average compliance burden by about 27%. Our outcome has interesting implications for further research. First of all, authority behavior does not only affect “soft” tax compliance factors like fairness and trust, but also “hard” aspects like costs. Second, the distribution of administrative cost burdens between the taxpayer side and the authorities may be important regarding the cost-efficiency of the tax system as a whole.     

The Impact of Uruguay's 2007 Tax Reform on Equity and Efficiency

In 2007, the Uruguayan government implemented a tax reform which introduced a new progressive labour income tax and a flat capital income tax, and reduced some indirect taxes, with the objective of improving fiscal balance, income distribution and economic growth. This article evaluates the impact of such tax reform on equity and efficiency on the basis of data derived from the Encuesta Continua de Hogares (ECH) for 2006 and 2009. Using a Difference‐in‐Differences technique, it shows that the new system reduced inequality by 2 Gini points without producing any discernible disincentive effect, suggesting that suitably designed reforms of direct taxation can simultaneously promote equity and efficiency.     

Perceptions of taxation: A comparative study of different population groups in South Africa

South Africa is a country of diverse cultures, languages, beliefs and backgrounds. It is conceivable that these different population groups may have differing perceptions of taxation resulting from their cultural backgrounds or even their political and social histories. These perceptions may, in turn, influence their attitudes towards tax compliance. It is, therefore, argued that in order to change taxpaying behaviour, perceptions must be first be identified, and then influenced in a positive way towards tax compliance.     

More than Just DNA – Tax,Welfare and the Family. An examination of the concept of family in the Tax Transfer system,with particular reference to family benefits

One of the core issues taken into account in tax transfer systems is the family circumstances of a particular recipient. Family tax transfer payments may be delivered through either the tax or the welfare system. However, the fundamental requirement is that there is a family, maintaining children. The concept of what is a family is a social rather than a legal construct. While marriage and spouse have legal definitions, family structures evolve and change over time. In this paper I explore the concept of family as it is used in the Australian income tax and welfare legislation. I consider the impact of the legislative construct of family on the entitlements to tax credits, and whether the definition of family is appropriate to ensure that the benefits improve the equity of the taxation system, and properly reflect the structure of the contemporary family unit.     

Framing of information on the use of public finances, regulatory fit of recipients and tax compliance

Information campaigns to increase tax compliance could be framed in different ways. They can either highlight the potential gains when tax compliance is high, or the potential losses when compliance is low. According to regulatory focus theory, such framing should be most effective when it is congruent with the promotion or prevention focus of its recipients. Two studies confirmed the hypothesized interaction effects between recipients’ regulatory focus and framing of information campaigns, with tax compliance being highest under conditions of regulatory fit. To address taxpayers effectively, information campaigns by tax authorities should consider the positive and negative framing of information, and the moderating effect of recipients’ regulatory focus.     

对西部民族地区乡镇农村税费改革的调查与分析--以湖北省建始县邺州镇为例

针对湖北省建始县邺州镇农村税费改革的具体情况及其成果,分析其税费改革中存在的一些不足之处,提出了解决问题的方法,便于农村税费改革更好地推行,能够切实减轻农民负担,加快农村经济的发展.     

中国个人所得税纳税遵从实证分析

本文回顾了国内外学者对于纳税遵从问题的研究成果,在分析A-S模型的基础上,结合中国的统计数据,建立计量经济学模型,使用面版数据,分析了个人所得税的逃税规模和纳税遵从度问题,并分析影响纳税遵从的因素。我们发现该模型基本符合中国的情况,但有些问题需要进一步研究。     

Tradition and Modernity in the Family Farm:

No abstract available for this article.     

Should commodity tax rates be uniform across regions in a heterogeneous country? Evidence from India

With countries increasingly adopting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as their system of commodity taxes replacing the myriad of sales, excise and other form of indirect taxes, there is a move towards the two features that characterize the GST: uniform tax rates across items and identical tax rates across regions. When India introduced the GST in 2017, it followed several other countries in departing from the first feature but in keeping with universal practice embraced the second feature. The chief motivation of this paper is to subject this latter feature to critical scrutiny. The study examines the four GST rates in India by comparing them with counterfactual evidence based on preference based optimal commodity tax rates estimated by taking into account regional diversity in prices and spending. The benchmarking suggests that the current top GST rates (12%, 16% and 28%) are much higher than can be justified by the optimal rates. The Indian evidence is also in favor of departing from the universal practice in GST of adopting a uniform tax across items. The paper makes a methodological contribution by proposing a procedure for calculating spatial prices that can be applied to a wide basket of items. The study provides evidence on the redistributive potential of indirect taxation by showing the progressive nature of the optimal commodity taxes. The latter result is of particular significance in developing countries where indirect taxes raise the greater share of revenue and provide an important policy tool for tackling increasing inequality. The study concludes with a list of policy lessons as the country seeks to make further changes to its GST. While there is a significant literature on harmonization of indirect taxes across countries that belong to a single economic grouping such as the EU, there is no such literature between regions within a large heterogeneous country. The present study on tax harmonization between the states in India attempts to fill this gap.     

浅议“营改增＂对商业银行的影响

将商业银行纳入增值税扩增范围可以有效打通增值税抵扣链条,对于促进商业银行的发展具有重要意义。商业银行实现营改增目标的最合理方法是一般征税法。但营改增政策会对商业银行的业务发展结构、盈利能力、业务创新能力等方面不利。为减少不利影响可以通过选择低税率、扩大抵扣范围、完善服务、优化征管等措施来推进商业银行“营改增”改革的顺利进行。