Are SMEs Avoiding Compliance Costs? Evidence from VAT Reforms in Japan

Takafumi Suzuki and Takafumi Kawakubo

No e171, Working Papers from Tokyo Center for Economic Research

Abstract: This study disentangles the motives behind enterprises' responses to size-dependent tax regulations by exploiting value-added tax (VAT) reforms in Japan. Tax threshold and tax rate in Japan have changed over the past three decades since the introduction of VAT. We build on the model of Harju et al. (2019) to incorporate various tax reforms and conducted bunching estimation. By using a novel panel of Japanese Census of Manufacture covering the periods of VAT introduction and reforms, we find from the local estimates that the observed output response by enterprises is mainly caused by compliance costs rather than tax rates for small enterprises in Japan. The results suggest that the authorities are encouraged to ease compliance costs while enhancing tax revenue to improve the efficiency of tax design.

Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2022-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-iue and nep-pub
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