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Revealing 21 per cent of GDP in hidden assets: Evidence from Argentina's tax amnesties

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  • Juliana Londoño-Vélez
  • Dario Tortarolo

Abstract

This paper studies the effectiveness of tax amnesties and their impacts on capital taxation and public spending. We leverage rich policy variation from Argentina, where left- and right-wing governments implemented multiple programmes and achieved varying success. After numerous failed enforcement efforts, its 2016 scheme reportedly revealed assets worth 21 per cent of GDP—the world's most successful tax amnesty. We use detailed data from fiscal tabulations spanning two decades and obtain three key results.

Suggested Citation

  • Juliana Londoño-Vélez & Dario Tortarolo, 2022. "Revealing 21 per cent of GDP in hidden assets: Evidence from Argentina's tax amnesties," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-103
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2022-103-revealing-21-per-cent-GDP-hidden-assets.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Julie Berry Cullen & Nicholas Turner & Ebonya Washington, 2021. "Political Alignment, Attitudes toward Government, and Tax Evasion," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 135-166, August.
    2. Gabriel Zucman, 2013. "The Missing Wealth of Nations: Are Europe and the U.S. net Debtors or net Creditors?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 1321-1364.
    3. Dominika Langenmayr, 2017. "Voluntary Disclosure of Evaded Taxes—Increasing Revenue, or Increasing Incentives to Evade?," NBER Chapters, in: Personal Income Taxation and Household Behavior (TAPES), National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Juliana Londoño-Vélez & Javier Avila-Mahecha, 2024. "Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxation: Evidence from Colombia," NBER Working Papers 32134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Patricia Gil & Justin Holz & John List & Andrew Simon & Alejandro Zentner, 2023. "Toward an Understanding of Tax Amnesties: Theory and Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00772, The Field Experiments Website.
    3. Vedanth Nair & Mekar Satria Utama, 2023. "Taxing high‐net‐worth individuals: experience from Indonesia," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 243-245, September.
    4. Alstadsæter, Annette & Casi, Elisa & Miethe, Jakob & Stage, Barbara M. B., 2023. "Lost in Information: National Implementation of Global Tax Agreements," Discussion Papers 2023/22, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science, revised 20 Feb 2024.

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    Keywords

    Tax evasion; Argentina; Taxation;
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