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Empirical evidence on horizontal competition in tax enforcement

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  • José Durán-Cabré
  • Alejandro Esteller-Moré
  • Luca Salvadori

Abstract

Tax auditing parameters have been largely overlooked by the literature as policy-making instruments of any relevance; however, enforcement strategies are critical elements of the tax burden. In this paper, we show that, in a federal framework, tax auditing policies can serve as additional tools for regional interaction. We examine the presence of this interaction by adopting a spatial econometric approach. We employ a spatial panel autoregressive model and obtain results that are congruent with standard theory, corroborating the presence of horizontal competition between regions in their tax auditing policies. We also find that once regional governments acquire legal power, the opaque competition in enforcement policies appears to switch in part to a more transparent competition in statutory tax parameters. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • José Durán-Cabré & Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Luca Salvadori, 2015. "Empirical evidence on horizontal competition in tax enforcement," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(5), pages 834-860, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:22:y:2015:i:5:p:834-860
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-014-9333-0
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    Cited by:

    1. James Alm, 2021. "Tax evasion, technology, and inequality," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 321-343, December.
    2. Alejandro Esteller & Amedeo Piolatto & Matthew D. Rablen, 2016. "Taxing high-income earners: tax avoidance and mobility," IFS Working Papers W16/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Libman Alexander & Feld Lars P., 2013. "Strategic Tax Collection and Fiscal Decentralization: The Case of Russia," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 14(4), pages 449-482, December.
    4. José María Durán-Cabré & Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Luca Salvadori, 2015. "Empirical evidence on tax cooperation between sub-central administrations," Working Papers 2015/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    5. López-Laborda Julio & Rodrigo Fernando, 2022. "Mobility of Top Income Taxpayers in Response to Regional Differences in Personal Taxes: Evidence from Spain," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 152-169, January.
    6. Jean Hindriks & Yukihiro Nishimura, 2021. "Taxing multinationals: The scope for enforcement cooperation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(3), pages 487-509, June.
    7. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi, 2022. "Tax enforcement and corporate employment: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Luca Salvadori, 2015. "Does tax enforcement counteract the negative effects of terrorism? A case study of the Basque country," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1465, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Chen, Shawn Xiaoguang, 2017. "The effect of a fiscal squeeze on tax enforcement: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 62-76.
    10. Luca Salvadori & José María Durán-Cabré & Alejandro Esteller-Moré, 2013. "Empirical Evidence On Tax Information Sharing Among Sub-Central Administrations," ERSA conference papers ersa13p461, European Regional Science Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax administration and auditing; Fiscal competition ; Fiscal federalism; H71; H77; H83;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

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