Experimental Estimates of Taxpayer Ethics

This paper extends the existing literature on taxpayer ethics in three ways. First, we construct a two-stage model of decision making, which allows us to disentangle risk preferences from ethical motivations for income tax compliance. Second, we develop a new experimental data set, which permits us to estimate the magnitudes of the relevant personality traits, risk aversion and morality, at the individual level. Third, we combine the experimental data with participant surveys so that ethical preferences are not only measured but also linked to demographic characteristics. We find that ethical preferences are correlated with risk aversion, age, gender, and marital status, among other characteristics.     

税收遵从成本对企业纳税遵从的影响分析——基于企业逃税模型的视角

在传统的A-S逃税模型中加入税收遵从成本因素分析以及对纳税遵从的影响,只适用于个人纳税。运用企业逃税模型分析税收遵从成本对企业纳税遵从的影响不仅符合企业实际,而且在我国更有现实意义。当前,应完善税收征管,简化税制,优化税收环境,从根本上降低企业税收遵从成本。     

论偷逃税违法以主观故意为要件

偷逃税违法以主观故意为要件,主要理由是：偷税一词是建国后的新造词,专门用来指称故意弄虚作假的现象。现行《税收征收管理法》有关偷税的法条表述,应当解释为包含了主观故意的内容。从刑法角度看,主观故意是偷逃税犯罪的要件,而刑法上对故意的考虑,反过来制约着税收执法,要求税务机关在对偷逃税违法行为定性处罚时考虑主观故意因素。此外,从《税收征收管理法》相关条款和国家税务总局的文件上分析,主观故意也是偷逃税定性处罚必须考虑的因素。     

Modelling the hidden economy and the tax-gap in New Zealand

This paper develops and estimates a structural, latent variable, model for the hidden economy in New Zealand, and a separate currency-demand model. The estimated latent variable model is used to generate an historical time-series index of hidden economic activity, which is calibrated via the information from the currency-demand model. Special attention is paid to data non-stationarity, and to diagnostic testing. Over the period 1968 to 1994, the size of the hidden economy is found to vary between 6.8% and 11.3% of measured GDP. This, in turn, implies that the total tax-gap is of the order of 6.4% to 10.2% of total tax liability in that country. Of course, not all of this foregone revenue would be recoverable, as not all of the activity in the underground economy is responsive to changes in taxation or other policies. First version received: August 1997/Final version received: March 1999     

关于税收筹划的若干思考

在我国，税收筹划逐步被有关人员所重视。纳税人要把握好税收筹划与偷税、避税的界限；纳税人可以从投资决策、融资决策和应纳的主要税种等方面进行税收筹划。     

On Teaching a Fractured Macroeconomics

One of the most interesting results in the tax evasion literature is that an increase in the income tax rate would increase tax compliance. Despite its peculiarity, this result has gained acceptance as a cornerstone for further developments of the rational tax evasion model. However, because of the mathematical format by which it is conveyed, this counterintuitive result has remained inaccessible to undergraduate students as well as to noneconomists. The author first introduces the rational tax evasion model in a nonmathematical style that is accessible to any reader. Second, he shows that the behavioral predictions of the rational tax evasion model can easily be obtained using a simple graphical representation of the optimum condition that involves the derivation of a demand curve for tax compliance.     

Hidden Economy – an Unknown Quantity? Comparative Analysis of Hidden Economies in Transition Countries, 1989–95

The study investigates the size of the hidden economy and related features, in post-socialist countries. After dealing critically with the approach of Kaufmann and Kaliberda, a method based on household electricity consumption is used to estimate the ratio of the hidden economy to the official GDP in 20 countries. Following a uniform growth in the size of the hidden economy in all the countries at the beginning of their transition, stagnation or further increase was experienced in the CIS countries, while an explicit declining tendency could be seen in the remaining economies. Comparisons show that the ratio of the hidden economy in post-socialist countries is significantly larger than in developed market economies. The paper analyses the relationships between the visible private economy, the advancement of reforms, corruption, and the size of the hidden economy.     

Governance and foreign direct investment: a panel gravity model approach

This paper investigates the link between governance and foreign direct investment in the case of 14 transition countries by using a panel gravity model approach in two alternative ways. First, the level of governance in the target country is studied. Second, the absolute difference in the governance level between the source and target country is investigated. In both cases the results suggest that the lack of good governance does not deter, in fact it encourages, foreign direct investment.     

税收流失中的双委托-多代理问题

本文首次给出了税收流失问题中的多委托—多代理模型分析框架,并将政府、国税局和地税局、纳税人置于统一的博弈框架下,作为博弈的三方进行讨论。只要政府给国税局和地税局以适当的激励,政府仍然能设计出让纳税人"诚实"申报的显示机制;国税局和地税局作为税收征管者和纳税人之间的博弈可以看成是一个双委托—代理问题,此时税收征收上的"正外部性"和税收监菅上的"搭便车"效应将是双委托—代理问题中的新现象。     

‘Flattening’ tax evasion?

We analyze the response of tax evasion to the introduction of a flat tax in several transition economies. Using a novel estimator based on household level data, we show that in most of the countries studied there was no discernible effect on the measured size of unreported income following a flat tax reform. This may imply that decreases in marginal tax rates may frequently have been accompanied by a parallel deterioration in attitudes towards public services and the government in general. The countries that show a response to the flat tax reform appear to be those where satisfaction with government services increased.     

Does good governance matter for FDI? New evidence from emerging countries using a static and dynamic panel gravity model approach

This paper assesses the impact of institutional factors on foreign direct investment (FDI) attractiveness using a pool of 25 emerging host countries (ECs) for the period 1996–2012. In particular, the paper aims to examine whether higher institutional quality and good governance do improve FDI attractiveness, and thereby to identify which institutional factors are the main drivers of FDI in ECs. Using a static and dynamic panel gravity model with various estimation techniques, we find that FDI is positively and significantly influenced by political stability, government effectiveness and regulatory quality. The remaining set of governance indicators is found to be statistically significant and negatively linked to FDI. Our findings also show that factors like a larger GDP per capita difference between investing partner and ECs, higher degree of trade openness and better infrastructure have positive and significant effects on FDI attractiveness. These results have important policy implications for ECs. Fostering FDI inflows into these countries requires policymakers to improve the quality of their institutions and business climate through implementing sound economic policies and regulations.     

Taxation and corruption: theory and firm-level evidence from Uganda

This article develops a simple framework to analyse the negotiation over bribe and tax payments during the tax collection process. We show that the larger the bribe a firm offers to a tax collector, the larger the tax rebate it gets. More particularly, we show that the negotiation over bribe and tax payments hinges on four other factors: firms’ official liabilities, detection, firms’ negotiation power and red tape costs imposed on firms. Some of the predictions from the theoretical model are tested using firm-level data from Uganda. We find that bribe and tax payments are inversely related, thereby supporting the hypothesis of a negotiation taking place between firms and tax collectors. In particular, a 1% point increase in average bribe payments per employee is associated with a 7% point reduction in average amount of tax payments per employee. Results are robust to various instruments dealing with the endogenous relationship between bribes and taxes.     

FDI,taxes and agglomeration economies in the EU15

This article provides an empirical analysis of the impact of tax differentials and agglomeration economies on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The article departs from most previous work on FDI and tax competition in a number of ways. First, it incorporates several measures of agglomeration in order to investigate whether agglomeration economies mitigate the downward spiral in tax rates. As the strength of agglomeration economies may vary with the degree of integration, we use a panel of bilateral FDI flows for a highly integrated region including countries with similar economic structure – the EU15 – from 1986 to 2004. Second, the empirical analysis explicitly deals with the problem of selection bias by using the Heckman sample selection approach. Also, by focusing on the EU15, we are able to provide additional information on the determinants of FDI between similar, higher-income countries. The empirical analysis provides some evidence of corporate marginal effective tax rates having an impact on FDI. This result, however, is sensitive to the inclusion of agglomeration economies. In particular, we find both Marshall types of technological externalities and overall concentration of economic activity to have an influence on FDI flows and, moreover, mitigating the negative impact of taxes.