VAT compliance, trade, and institutions

Peter Morrow, Michael Smart and Artur Swistak

Journal of Public Economics, 2022, vol. 208, issue C

Abstract: We develop a simple model of value added tax (VAT) compliance, and estimate it using widely available national accounts data to learn about compliance in countries where little is currently known. International border controls improve VAT compliance, generating a correlation between imports and aggregate VAT revenues that is informative about domestic non-compliance. We estimate nearly 30 percent of domestic value added escapes taxation through non-compliance for the average country in our sample, with much higher levels of non-compliance in countries with low perceived institutional quality. We analyze how our estimates are related to institutional differences among countries, and discuss the implications for tax policy.

Keywords: Value-added tax; Tax compliance; Compliance gap; Tax enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: VAT Compliance, Trade, and Institutions (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:208:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000366

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104634

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