IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jafrec/v15y2006i3p373-398.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shifting Tax Burdens through Exemptions and Evasion: an Empirical Investigation of Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Bernard Gauthier
  • Ritva Reinikka

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of tax reforms implemented in Uganda in the mid-1990s on the prevalence of tax evasion and exemptions among firms, and their effects on the distribution and dispersion of tax burdens. Based on firm-level data collected from 243 firms, we observe that evasion and exemptions were widespread and that their prevalence actually increased during tax reforms. We use three-stage least squares to simultaneously estimate tax burdens, evasion and exemption patterns in 1995 and 1997. We find that tax exemptions benefit large businesses to a disproportionate degree, while evasion is more common among small businesses. This creates a situation in which medium-sized firms shoulder a disproportionate tax burden. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernard Gauthier & Ritva Reinikka, 2006. "Shifting Tax Burdens through Exemptions and Evasion: an Empirical Investigation of Uganda," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(3), pages 373-398, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:15:y:2006:i:3:p:373-398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mr. John J Matovu & Duanjie Chen & Ritva Reinikka-Soininen, 2001. "A Quest for Revenue and Tax Incidence in Uganda," IMF Working Papers 2001/024, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Steel, William F & Webster, Leila M, 1992. "How Small Enterprises in Ghana Have Responded to Adjustment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 6(3), pages 423-438, September.
    3. Tybout, James, et al, 1997. "Firm-Level Responses to the CFA Devaluation in Cameroon," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 6(1), pages 3-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ssewanyana, Sarah N., 2009. "Gender and incidence of indirect taxation: Evidence from Uganda," Research Series 54939, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    2. John Victor Mensah & Michael Tribe & John Weiss, 2007. "The small-scale manufacturing sector in Ghana: a source of dynamism or of subsistence income?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 253-273.
    3. Tabi Atemnkeng Johannes & Tafah Akwi & Peter Etoh Anzah, 2006. "The Distributive Impact of Fiscal Policy in Cameroon: Tax and Benefit Incidence," Working Papers PMMA 2006-16, PEP-PMMA.
    4. Asenso-Okyere, W. Kwadwo & Osei-Akoto, Isaac & Anum, Adote & Appiah, Ernest N., 1997. "Willingness to pay for health insurance in a developing economy. A pilot study of the informal sector of Ghana using contingent valuation," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 223-237, December.
    5. John Cockburn & Hélène Maisonnave & Véronique Robichaud & Luca Tiberti, 2013. "Fiscal Space and Public Spending on Children in Burkina Faso," Cahiers de recherche 1308, CIRPEE.
    6. Juan Antonio Morales, 2004. "Dollarization of Assets and Liabilities: Problem or Solution? The Case of Bolivia," Money Affairs, CEMLA, vol. 0(2), pages 105-135, July-Dece.
    7. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Riccardo Faini & Bernard Gauthier, 2006. "The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Enterprises in Small Backward Economies: the Case of Chad and Gabon," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 452-465, August.
    8. Kirsneh Alemu Kebede, 2024. "The Effect of Availability of Foreign Exchange and Devaluation of BIRR on the Performance of Companies in Ethiopia (Instance of Sample Company)," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 99-117.
    9. Jimenez, Emmanuel & DEC, 1994. "Human and physical infrastructure : public investment and pricing policies in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1281, The World Bank.
    10. Green, Elliott, 2013. "The Rise and Fall of Decentralization in Contemporary Uganda," WIDER Working Paper Series 078, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Paul Mosley, 2012. "The politics of what works for the poor in public expenditure and taxation: a review," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-011-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    12. Chanelle T. Maxwell & Winston R. Moore, 2004. "External Price Competitiveness and Trade in the Caribbean," Money Affairs, CEMLA, vol. 0(2), pages 137-153, July-Dece.
    13. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2001. "The Impact of Budgets on the Poor: Tax and Benefit," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0110, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    14. Goyette, Jonathan & Gallipoli, Giovanni, 2015. "Distortions, efficiency and the size distribution of firms," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 202-221.
    15. Verner, Dorte, 1999. "Are wages and productivity in Zimbabwe affected by human capital investment and international trade?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2101, The World Bank.
    16. Veronika Svatošová, 2017. "Identification of Financial Strategy in Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurship," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 1435-1453.
    17. Kenneth Coates & Edwin Rivera, 2004. "Fiscal Dominance and Foreign Debt: Five Decades of Latin American Experience," Money Affairs, CEMLA, vol. 0(2), pages 83-103, July-Dece.
    18. Trevor Campbell, 2004. "The Impact of Real Domestic Income on Indirect Taxes in Barbados with the Use of an Impulse Response Function," Money Affairs, CEMLA, vol. 0(2), pages 155-169, July-Dece.
    19. Gauthier, Bernard & Soloaga, Isidro & Tybout, James, 2000. "A firm's-eye view of policy and fiscal reforms in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2442, The World Bank.
    20. Hien Thu Pham & Shino Takayama, 2015. "Revisiting the Missing Middle: Production and Corruption," CEPA Working Papers Series WP022015, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:15:y:2006:i:3:p:373-398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csaoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.