Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?

This paper seeks to find empirical evidence of a link between tax simplification and corruption in tax administration. It attempts to do this by first defining "tax simplicity" as a measurable variable and exploring empirical relationship...

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Main Authors: Awasthi, Rajul, Bayraktar, Nihal
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
TAX
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19898924/can-tax-simplification-help-lower-tax-corruption
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19381
id okr-10986-19381
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-193812021-04-23T14:03:52Z Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption? Awasthi, Rajul Bayraktar, Nihal ACCOUNTING BANK POLICY BOND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS TAXES CLIENT COUNTRIES COLLECTION PROCEDURES COMPLIANCE COSTS COMPUTER SYSTEMS CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CORPORATE TAXES COUNTRY FIXED EFFECTS COUNTRY RISK CREDIBILITY CULTURAL DETERMINANTS DATA AVAILABILITY DECENTRALIZATION DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY DEREGULATION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT BANK DISPUTE RESOLUTION ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE EMERGING MARKET EXCLUSION EXPORTS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT GIFTS GOOD GOVERNANCE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GOVERNMENT POLICY GOVERNMENT REGULATION GOVERNMENT SPENDING GROWTH RATE INCOME INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INCOME LEVEL INFLATION INTERNATIONAL BANK INVESTMENT CLIMATE INVESTMENT FLOWS ISSUANCE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY LEVY MATURITY MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES NATURAL RESOURCES PAYMENT SYSTEMS PAYMENTS SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE MEASURES PERSONAL INCOME PERSONAL INCOME TAX PERSONAL INCOME TAXES POLITICAL DETERMINANTS POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL RISK POLITICAL STABILITY PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC FINANCES PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SECTOR PUBLIC SERVICES PUBLIC UTILITIES REGIONAL DUMMIES RENTS RULE OF LAW SMALL BUSINESSES STRUCTURAL REFORMS TAX TAX ADMINISTRATION TAX AUDIT TAX COLLECTIONS TAX COMPLIANCE TAX CONCESSIONS TAX EXEMPTIONS TAX INCENTIVES TAX LAW TAX LAWS TAX LEGISLATION TAX LIABILITY TAX PAYERS TAX POLICY TAX PROVISIONS TAX RATE TAX RATES TAX REFORMS TAX REFUNDS TAX REGIME TAX REGIMES TAX RESEARCH TAX RETURN TAX RETURNS TAX REVENUE TAX REVENUES TAX SIMPLIFICATION TAX STATUTES TAX SYSTEM TAX SYSTEMS TAX TABLE TAXATION TAXPAYER TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE TAXPAYER SERVICES TAXPAYERS TRANSITION ECONOMIES TRANSPARENCY TREASURY VALUE ADDED TAX WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS This paper seeks to find empirical evidence of a link between tax simplification and corruption in tax administration. It attempts to do this by first defining "tax simplicity" as a measurable variable and exploring empirical relationships between simpler tax regimes and corruption in tax administration. Corruption in tax administration is calculated with data series from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey Database. The focus is on business taxes. The study includes 104 countries from different income groups and regions of the world. The time period is 2002-12. The empirical findings support the existence of a significant link between the measure of tax corruption and tax simplicity, so a less complex tax system is shown to be associated with lower corruption in tax administration. It is predicted that the combined effect of a 10 percent reduction in both the number of payments and the time to comply with tax requirements can lower tax corruption by 9.64 percent. Some interesting regional differences are observed in the results. Similarly, the income level of countries plays an important role in determining the impact of tax simplification on tax corruption; specifically, the link is stronger for lower-income level countries. The positive link between tax simplicity and lower tax corruption has useful policy implications. 2014-08-15T18:41:48Z 2014-08-15T18:41:48Z 2014-07 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19898924/can-tax-simplification-help-lower-tax-corruption http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19381 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6988 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Group, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ACCOUNTING
BANK POLICY
BOND
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS TAXES
CLIENT COUNTRIES
COLLECTION PROCEDURES
COMPLIANCE COSTS
COMPUTER SYSTEMS
CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT
CORPORATE TAXES
COUNTRY FIXED EFFECTS
COUNTRY RISK
CREDIBILITY
CULTURAL DETERMINANTS
DATA AVAILABILITY
DECENTRALIZATION
DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
DEREGULATION
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT BANK
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY
ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
EMERGING MARKET
EXCLUSION
EXPORTS
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
GIFTS
GOOD GOVERNANCE
GOVERNANCE INDICATORS
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES
GOVERNMENT POLICY
GOVERNMENT REGULATION
GOVERNMENT SPENDING
GROWTH RATE
INCOME
INCOME GROUP
INCOME GROUPS
INCOME LEVEL
INFLATION
INTERNATIONAL BANK
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
INVESTMENT FLOWS
ISSUANCE
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
LEVY
MATURITY
MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES
NATURAL RESOURCES
PAYMENT SYSTEMS
PAYMENTS SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
PERSONAL INCOME
PERSONAL INCOME TAX
PERSONAL INCOME TAXES
POLITICAL DETERMINANTS
POLITICAL ECONOMY
POLITICAL RISK
POLITICAL STABILITY
PUBLIC ECONOMICS
PUBLIC FINANCES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUBLIC SERVICES
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGIONAL DUMMIES
RENTS
RULE OF LAW
SMALL BUSINESSES
STRUCTURAL REFORMS
TAX
TAX ADMINISTRATION
TAX AUDIT
TAX COLLECTIONS
TAX COMPLIANCE
TAX CONCESSIONS
TAX EXEMPTIONS
TAX INCENTIVES
TAX LAW
TAX LAWS
TAX LEGISLATION
TAX LIABILITY
TAX PAYERS
TAX POLICY
TAX PROVISIONS
TAX RATE
TAX RATES
TAX REFORMS
TAX REFUNDS
TAX REGIME
TAX REGIMES
TAX RESEARCH
TAX RETURN
TAX RETURNS
TAX REVENUE
TAX REVENUES
TAX SIMPLIFICATION
TAX STATUTES
TAX SYSTEM
TAX SYSTEMS
TAX TABLE
TAXATION
TAXPAYER
TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE
TAXPAYER SERVICES
TAXPAYERS
TRANSITION ECONOMIES
TRANSPARENCY
TREASURY
VALUE ADDED TAX
WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS
spellingShingle ACCOUNTING
BANK POLICY
BOND
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS TAXES
CLIENT COUNTRIES
COLLECTION PROCEDURES
COMPLIANCE COSTS
COMPUTER SYSTEMS
CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT
CORPORATE TAXES
COUNTRY FIXED EFFECTS
COUNTRY RISK
CREDIBILITY
CULTURAL DETERMINANTS
DATA AVAILABILITY
DECENTRALIZATION
DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
DEREGULATION
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT BANK
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY
ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
EMERGING MARKET
EXCLUSION
EXPORTS
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
GIFTS
GOOD GOVERNANCE
GOVERNANCE INDICATORS
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES
GOVERNMENT POLICY
GOVERNMENT REGULATION
GOVERNMENT SPENDING
GROWTH RATE
INCOME
INCOME GROUP
INCOME GROUPS
INCOME LEVEL
INFLATION
INTERNATIONAL BANK
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
INVESTMENT FLOWS
ISSUANCE
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
LEVY
MATURITY
MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES
NATURAL RESOURCES
PAYMENT SYSTEMS
PAYMENTS SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
PERSONAL INCOME
PERSONAL INCOME TAX
PERSONAL INCOME TAXES
POLITICAL DETERMINANTS
POLITICAL ECONOMY
POLITICAL RISK
POLITICAL STABILITY
PUBLIC ECONOMICS
PUBLIC FINANCES
PUBLIC POLICY
PUBLIC SECTOR
PUBLIC SERVICES
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGIONAL DUMMIES
RENTS
RULE OF LAW
SMALL BUSINESSES
STRUCTURAL REFORMS
TAX
TAX ADMINISTRATION
TAX AUDIT
TAX COLLECTIONS
TAX COMPLIANCE
TAX CONCESSIONS
TAX EXEMPTIONS
TAX INCENTIVES
TAX LAW
TAX LAWS
TAX LEGISLATION
TAX LIABILITY
TAX PAYERS
TAX POLICY
TAX PROVISIONS
TAX RATE
TAX RATES
TAX REFORMS
TAX REFUNDS
TAX REGIME
TAX REGIMES
TAX RESEARCH
TAX RETURN
TAX RETURNS
TAX REVENUE
TAX REVENUES
TAX SIMPLIFICATION
TAX STATUTES
TAX SYSTEM
TAX SYSTEMS
TAX TABLE
TAXATION
TAXPAYER
TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE
TAXPAYER SERVICES
TAXPAYERS
TRANSITION ECONOMIES
TRANSPARENCY
TREASURY
VALUE ADDED TAX
WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS
Awasthi, Rajul
Bayraktar, Nihal
Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6988
description This paper seeks to find empirical evidence of a link between tax simplification and corruption in tax administration. It attempts to do this by first defining "tax simplicity" as a measurable variable and exploring empirical relationships between simpler tax regimes and corruption in tax administration. Corruption in tax administration is calculated with data series from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey Database. The focus is on business taxes. The study includes 104 countries from different income groups and regions of the world. The time period is 2002-12. The empirical findings support the existence of a significant link between the measure of tax corruption and tax simplicity, so a less complex tax system is shown to be associated with lower corruption in tax administration. It is predicted that the combined effect of a 10 percent reduction in both the number of payments and the time to comply with tax requirements can lower tax corruption by 9.64 percent. Some interesting regional differences are observed in the results. Similarly, the income level of countries plays an important role in determining the impact of tax simplification on tax corruption; specifically, the link is stronger for lower-income level countries. The positive link between tax simplicity and lower tax corruption has useful policy implications.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Awasthi, Rajul
Bayraktar, Nihal
author_facet Awasthi, Rajul
Bayraktar, Nihal
author_sort Awasthi, Rajul
title Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
title_short Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
title_full Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
title_fullStr Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
title_full_unstemmed Can Tax Simplification Help Lower Tax Corruption?
title_sort can tax simplification help lower tax corruption?
publisher World Bank Group, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/07/19898924/can-tax-simplification-help-lower-tax-corruption
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19381
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