Does E-Government Improve Government Capacity? Evidence from Tax Compliance Costs, Tax Revenue, and Public Procurement Competitiveness

Anna Kochanova, Zahid Hasnain and Bradley Larson

The World Bank Economic Review, 2020, vol. 34, issue 1, 101-120

Abstract: Using cross-country data on e-government systems, this paper analyzes whether e-filing of taxes and e-procurement implementation improves the capacity of governments to raise and spend fiscal resources through lowering tax compliance costs, improving tax collection and public procurement competitiveness, and reducing corruption. Adopting e-filing systems reduces tax compliance costs as measured by the time to prepare and pay taxes, the likelihood and frequency of firms being visited by a tax official, and the perception of tax administration as an obstacle to firms’ operation and growth. E-filing is also associated with a moderate increase in the income tax revenue to GDP ratio. The results for e-procurement are weaker, with the number of firms securing or attempting to secure a government contract increasing only in countries with higher levels of development and better institutions. There is no strong relationship between e-government and corruption.

Keywords: e-government; tax compliance costs; tax revenue; public procurement; corruption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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