How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-wide Experiments in Belgium

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Clément Imbert, Johannes Spinnewijn, Teodora Tsankova and Maarten Luts
Additional contact information
Teodora Tsankova: University of Warwick
Maarten Luts: FPS Finance

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study the impact of simplification, deterrence and tax morale on tax compliance. We ran five natural field experiments varying the communication of the tax administration with the universe of income taxpayers in Belgium throughout the tax process. A consistent picture emerges across experiments: (i) simplifying communication substantially increases compliance, (ii) deterrence messages have an additional positive effect, (iii) invoking tax morale is not effective, and often backfires. A discontinuity in enforcement intensity, combined with the experimental variation, allows us to compare simplification with standard enforcement measures. We find that simplification is far more cost-effective, allowing for substantial savings on enforcement costs.

Keywords: Tax Compliance; Field Experiments; Simplification; Enforcement JEL codes: C93; D91; H20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-iue and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... rp_1252_-_imbert.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-Wide Experiments in Belgium (2021)
Working Paper: How to improve tax compliance? Evidence from population-wide experiments in Belgium (2021)
Working Paper: How to improve tax compliance? Evidence from population-wide experiments in Belgium (2021)
Working Paper: How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-wide Experiments in Belgium (2020)
Working Paper: How to improve tax compliance? Evidence from population-wide experiments in Belgium (2019)
Working Paper: How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-wide Experiments in Belgium (2019)
Working Paper: How to improve tax compliance? Evidence from population-wide experiments in Belgium (2019)
Working Paper: How to Improve Tax Compliance? Evidence from Population-wide Experiments in Belgium (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1252

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