The existence of a private cost borne by audited taxpayers affects the tax enforcement policy. This is so because tax auditors will face now two sources of uncertainty, namely, the typical one associated with taxpayers’ income and that associated with the taxpayers’ idiosyncratic attitude towards tax compliance. Moreover, the inspection policy can be exposed to some randomness from the taxpayer...

In this study, we explore factors that determine citizens’ tax compliance attitude in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. The analysis is based on attitude and perception data from the new round of Afrobarometer surveys, which contain more tax-specific information than previous rounds. Using binary logit regression, we find some similarities, but also differences in factors that are corre...

In this study, we explore factors that determine citizens’ tax compliance behavior in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa using attitude and perception data from the new round 5 of Afrobarometer surveys. Using a binary logit regression, we find some similarities, but also differences in factors that are correlated with tax compliance attitude in the four countries. An increase in the perce...

Tax noncompliance is a quantitatively important phenomenon that significantly affects government revenues and thus raises challenging questions about the determinants of tax reporting and the appropriate design of a tax system. This paper provides empirical insights regarding the nature of tax noncompliance using an experimental approach to evaluate the effects of systematic sales tax monitorin...

Tax Evasion, Welfare Fraud, and “The Broken Windows” Effect: An Experiment in Belgium, France and the Netherlands In a series of experiments conducted in Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), France and the Netherlands, we compare behavior regarding tax evasion and welfare dodging, with and without information about others’ behavior. Subjects have to decide between a ‘registered’ income, the realiza...

* The research reported here was partially funded by the IRS (TIRNO – 07 – P – 00683). The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not reflect the opinions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or of any researchers working within the IRS. An earlier version of this paper, with pilot data only, was presented at the 2007 IRS Research Conference, under the title " I'm From the IRS and I'...

In this paper, we examine the distributional effects of tax evasion, using results from theoretical, experimental, empirical, and especially the general equilibrium literatures on tax evasion. Much – if not all – of this evidence concludes that the main beneficiaries of successful tax evasion are the tax evaders themselves, with distributional effects that largely favor higher income individual...

In this paper, we examine the distributional effects of tax evasion, using results from theoretical, experimental, empirical, and especially the general equilibrium literatures on tax evasion. Much – if not all – of this evidence concludes that the main beneficiaries of successful tax evasion are the tax evaders themselves, with distributional effects that largely favor higher income individual...

We extend the standard, one-period model of tax evasion to an intertemporal framework in which an expected-utility-maximizing taxpayer updates expectations about the probability of a future audit based on past audit experience. This framework provides a theoretical grounding for the empirical evidence indicating that tax evasion is affected by taxpayers' perceptions of audit probabilities and i...