Legalism and creativity: tax non-compliance in the eyes of the economic elite

This paper analyzes elite tax compliance from a sociological perspective in order to examine how different tax behaviors are justified or how they embody different taxpayers’ subjectivities. Drawing from the case of Chile and using a qualitative approach based on 32 interviews conducted with members of the economic elite, it is argued that forms of non-compliance -such as evasion and avoidance- are grounded in different ‘repertoires of evaluation’ while denoting a plurality of distinctions and criteria of evaluation which relate to the legal culture in which the tax system operates. Findings show that legalism -a literal conception of the rules- does not always favor tax compliance and that it may even go against the purpose of tax collection when a creative use of the law prevails. Furthermore, legalism and creativity allow for the main justifications for challenging tax payment as well as the perceptions and beliefs that underlie the everyday relationship between taxpayers and the state to be understood.     

Mental accounting of income tax and value added tax among self-employed business owners

Mental accounting describes a series of cognitive operations that help organize financial activities and facilitate money management. Self-employed taxpayers who make use of a separate mental account for future income tax payments or collected value added tax (VAT) might find it easier to declare their taxes correctly than taxpayers who do not. This study used a questionnaire to investigate whether self-employed taxpayers (N = 350) use mental accounting to manage their income tax and VAT obligations, whether mental accounting relates to tax knowledge, business and personality characteristics, and to what extent mental accounting is related to intended tax behavior. Our results reveal that some taxpayers mentally segregate taxes from turnover (segregators) while others do not (integrators). We found small differences in mental accounting between income taxes and VAT. Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses suggested that tax knowledge and mental accounting are distinct constructs. Segregation of taxes was related to lower impulsivity and more positive attitudes toward taxation. Individuals who stated they segregate taxes due from turnover more often claimed to run financially prosperous businesses. Mental accounting was not related to intentions of evading taxes, but individuals with higher mental accounting scores reported more pronounced levels of tax planning. While our research design does not allow drawing causal inferences, these findings could suggest that increasing self-employed taxpayers’ ability to organize their financial activities might be a promising strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of their businesses.     

个人所得税减免有助于中国城镇家庭提高消费吗?

预期效应的准确识别往往是政策评估的重点和难点。本文基于中国城镇住户调查2010-2012年月度数据研究发现:第一,2011年6月底个人所得税法修正案获得通过时,工薪家庭消费便已显著增加,并在2011年9月正式实施时达到最大,随后逐步下降,两个月后达到较高稳态(约为0. 20),但在统计意义上并不显著。与既往研究不同,这说明税收减免只在短期提高家庭消费,忽略家庭预期将会导致减税效应低估。第二,家庭增加的支出以服务消费和食物消费为主,耐用消费和债务支出并未显著调整,这可能与减免力度有关。第三,与常规认知不同,政策边际消费倾向更多地随着减税率(而非收入水平或者流动率)增加单调递减。本文通过改进Kueng(2018)所提理论模型,对此进行了解释。     

Inference Tests for Gini-Based Tax Progressivity Indexes

Distribution-free statistical inference procedures for changes in Lorenz- and Gini-based indexes of tax progressivity are developed and applied. Related but distinct tests for the Reynolds–Smolensky index of residual progression and the Kakwani index of liability progression are provided. The inference procedures are illustrated by applying them to Luxembourg Income Study microdata for Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States before and after periods of tax reform. In each country a finding of significant change depends on the choice among progressivity indexes. No single index exhibits a consistent pattern of significant change in all countries across time.     

个人所得税制度的优化选择

米尔利斯认为非线性的个人所得税是最优化的；斯特恩则根据一些不同的劳动供给函数、财政收入的需要和公平观点，提出了最优线性所得税模型。我们需要重新探讨累进性个人所得税制的合理性；最优税制理论未必适用于发展中国家；个人所得税改革应综合考虑效率与公平两大目标。     

论近代英法国家的税收与政体选择——基于交易费用的视角

税收不仅有助于现代国家的诞生，更是现代国家发展的强大推动力量。在政府与纳税人漫长的税收博弈过程中，政府会通过各种手段提高自己的相对讨价还价权力，但面临着竞争约束和交易费用约束。为了获得更多的税收收入，政府必须采取相应措施降低交易费用。而不同性质的税收在征收过程中面临的交易费用是不同的，这会对国家的政体选择和政治发展产生不同影响，英国和法国提供了历史的经验证明。     

Reference dependent preferences,hedonic adaptation and tax evasion: Does the tax burden matter?

We study the effects of the tax burden on tax evasion both theoretically and experimentally. We develop a theoretical framework of tax evasion decisions that is based on two behavioral assumptions: (1) taxpayers are endowed with reference dependent preferences that are subject to hedonic adaptation and (2) in making their choices, taxpayers are affected by ethical concerns. The model generates new predictions on how a change in the tax rate affects the decision to evade taxes. Contrary to the classical expected utility theory, but in line with previous applications of reference dependent preferences to taxpayers’ decisions, an increase in the tax rate increases tax evasion. Moreover, as taxpayers adapt to the new legal tax rate, the decision to evade taxes becomes independent of the tax rate. We present results from a laboratory experiment that support the main predictions of the model.     

Measuring and explaining tax evasion: Improving self-reports using the crosswise model

Due to its sensitive nature, tax compliance is difficult to study empirically, and valid information on tax evasion is rare. More specifically, when directly asked on surveys, respondents are likely to underreport their evasion behavior. Such invalid responses not only bias prevalence estimates but may also obscure associations with individual predictors. To generate more valid estimates of tax evasion, we used a new method of data collection for sensitive questions, the crosswise model (CM). The CM is conceptually based on the randomized response technique (RRT), but due to its advanced design, it is better suited for large surveys than classical RRTs. In an experimental online survey, we compared the CM (N = 862) to standard direct questioning (DQ; N = 305). First, our results showed that the CM was able to elicit a higher proportion of self-stigmatizing reports of tax evasion by increasing privacy in the data collection process. Second, on average, we found stronger effects of our predictor variables on tax evasion in the CM condition compared with the DQ condition such that an egoistic personality and the opportunity for tax evasion predicted actual tax evasion only in the CM condition.     

税收合同的性质辨析

税法上虽然以税收法定主义为其最高原则，但税收合同的存在有其合理性。前提是不能消除法定的纳税义务。因为税收合同具有经济目的，主体一方恒定是代表政府的征税机关，个别利益和由政府代表的整体利益并重，体现经济法的“纵横统一”思想，税务机关具有主导性，体现了经济法的动态的实现机制，因而从其性质上应归为经济合同。税收合同又有其自身的特点，如其有限的合意性、没有具体的对待给付从而不表现为对价的关系、不受商事和经济规律的支配、合同的基本条件或主要条件并非是由政府规定的、主要体现税收效率原则。     

Citizenship and power in an agent-based model of tax compliance with public expenditure

In this paper we present a model of tax compliance with heterogeneous agents who maximize their individual utility based on income and the conjectured level of per capita public expenditure. We formally include psychological drivers in this model. These drivers affect individual behavior, such as risk aversion, together with appreciation of public expenditure, expectations about peers’ compliance and a natural inclination to comply, all of which we summarize in a quality termed “citizenship”. The enforcement system, based on random inspections, is standard and only partially known to agents.The agent-based model is simulated under a variety of settings, representing different “societies”. We use the artificial data produced by the model to estimate the effects of taxpayers’ traits on personal tax behavior and to build a compliance societal slippery slope. At the individual level, we find a positive dependence of compliance on all variables, with the significant exception of the tax rate, which has a negative impact. As far as societies are concerned, we show how aggregate tax compliance depends on composite indices of citizenship and power, and we find that the former is more important than the latter.