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Austerity and tax compliance

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  • Pappadá, Francesco
  • Zylberberg, Yanos

Abstract

Relying on a novel measure of VAT compliance in a panel of 35 countries, we document a robust negative response of tax compliance to changes in tax rates. In order to rationalize this finding, we develop a theoretical framework where heterogeneous firms adjust the share of declared activity. We calibrate the model using firm-level data in Greece, and find large leakages following the recent austerity plans. We then show how differences in financial development and the size of economic activity at the margin of informality are able to explain the heterogeneous response of tax compliance to tax rates across countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Pappadá, Francesco & Zylberberg, Yanos, 2017. "Austerity and tax compliance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 506-524.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:100:y:2017:i:c:p:506-524
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.09.007
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    Cited by:

    1. Luca Metelli & Kevin Pallara, 2020. "Fiscal space and the size of the fiscal multiplier," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1293, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Francesco Pappada & Yanos Zylberberg, 2018. "Hanging off a cliff: fiscal consolidations and default risk," 2018 Meeting Papers 844, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Ohnsorge, Franziska & Capasso, Salvatore & Yu, Shu, 2022. "From Financial Development to Informality: A Causal Link," CEPR Discussion Papers 17565, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Klaus Gründler & Niklas Potrafke, 2019. "Ideologically-charged terminology: austerity, fiscal consolidation, and sustainable governance," CESifo Working Paper Series 7613, CESifo.
    5. A. M. Kalinin, 2022. "Increasing the VAT Rate in Russia from the Position of the Laffer Curve," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 353-358, June.
    6. Youngrok Kim & Hongyu Wan & Minjo Kang, 2022. "Card or cash? Evidence regarding consumers' cooperative value‐added tax compliance," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 337-359, September.
    7. Caro, Paolo Di & Sacchi, Agnese, 2020. "The heterogeneous effects of labor informality on VAT revenues: Evidence on a developed country," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austerity; Tax compliance; Credit frictions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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