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Price Neutral Tax reform With an Informal Economy

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Author Info
Joseph E. Stiglitz
M. Shahe Emran

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Abstract

A Strand of recent literature shows that a reform of import tariff (export tax) and consumption tax (production tax) that keeps consumer (producer) price unchanged cnhances welfare and increases revenue under plausible conditions. We demonstrate that the results derived so far critically depend on the unrealistic assumption that there is no informal sector in the economy, implying that each and every commodity in the economy can be taxed through VAT and production tax. Our results show that, when the feasibility restrictions on the tax instruments imposed by the presence of a large informal and shadow economy is taken into account, such consumer or producer price-neutral reform reduces both revenue and welfare under plausible conditions. The Results add to the emerging skepticism about the desirability of the widely accepted tax reform policies in developing countries that focus on the reduction of trade taxes with coordinated increase in VAT to cover the revenue loss

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Paper provided by Econometric Society in its series Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings with number 493.

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Date of creation: 11 Aug 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:nasm04:493

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Related research
Keywords: Trade Tax; VAT; Production Tax; Win-win Tax Reform;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
O12 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Diewert, W E & Turunen-Red, A H & Woodland, A D, 1989. "Productivity- and Pareto-Improving Changes in Taxes and Tariffs," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(2), pages 199-215, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Michael Keen & Johanna Elisabeth Ligthart, 1999. "Coordinating Tariff Reduction and Domestic Tax Reform," IMF Working Papers 99/93, International Monetary Fund.
    Other versions:
  3. M. Shahe Emran & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2002. "On Selective Indirect Tax Reform in Developing Countries," International Trade 0210003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Zee, Howell H., 1996. "Empirics of crosscountry tax revenue comparisons," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1659-1671, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Burgess, Robin & Stern, Nicholas, 1993. "Taxation and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 762-830, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. James E. Anderson, 1996. "Trade Reform with a Government Budget Constraint," NBER Working Papers 5827, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. John Piggott & John Whalley, 2001. "VAT Base Broadening, Self Supply, and the Informal Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1084-1094, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Dixit, Avinash, 1985. "Tax policy in open economies," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 313-374 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Emran, M. Shahe, 2005. "Revenue-increasing and welfare-enhancing reform of taxes on exports," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 277-292, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Michael, Michael S. & Hatzipanayotou, Panos & Miller, Stephen M., 1993. "Integrated reforms of tariffs and consumption taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 417-428, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Abe, Kenzo, 1992. "Tariff Reform in a Small Open Economy with Public Production," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(1), pages 209-22, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Hatzipanayotou, Panos & Michael, Michael S. & Miller, Stephen M., 1994. "Win-win indirect tax reform : A modest proposal," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 147-151. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Abe, Kenzo, 1995. "The Target Rates of Tariff and Tax Reform," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 36(4), pages 875-85, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Panagariya, Arvind, 1992. "Input tariffs, duty drawbacks, and tariff reforms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 131-147, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Hatta, Tatsuo, 1977. "A Theory of Piecemeal Policy Recommendations," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 1-21, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. M. Shahe Emran & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2002. "On Selective Indirect Tax Reform in Developing Countries," International Trade 0210003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Raghbendra Jha & T. Palanivel, 2007. "Resource Augmentation for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia Pacific Region," ASARC Working Papers 2007-02, Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Beja Jr, Edsel, 2009. "The Philippines on debt row," MPRA Paper 16553, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Knud Jørgen Munk, 2005. "Tax-tariff reform with costs of tax administration," Economics Working Papers 2005-21, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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