Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing
Many e-government initiatives introduce technology to improve efficiency and avoid potential human bias. Electronic tax filing (e-filing) is an important example, as developing countries increasingly adopt online submission of tax declarations to r...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/906671526994655975/Technology-taxation-and-corruption-evidence-from-the-introduction-of-electronic-tax-filing http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29862 |
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okr-10986-298622022-06-05T12:15:30Z Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing Okunogbe, Oyebola Pouliquen, Victor TECHNOLOGY CHANGE E-GOVERNMENT TAXATION ELECTRONIC TAX FILING TAX COMPLIANCE BRIBERY TAX EVASION E-FILING CORRUPTION Many e-government initiatives introduce technology to improve efficiency and avoid potential human bias. Electronic tax filing (e-filing) is an important example, as developing countries increasingly adopt online submission of tax declarations to replace in-person submission to tax officials. This paper examines the impact of e-filing on compliance costs, tax payments, and bribe payments using experimental variation and data from Tajikistan firms. Firms that e-file have lower compliance costs, spending five fewer hours each month on fulfilling tax obligations. There are no significant average effects of e-filing on tax or bribe payments, but significant heterogeneity exists across firms by their baseline likelihood of tax evasion. Among firms previously more likely to evade, e-filing doubles tax payments, likely by disrupting collusion with officials. Conversely, among firms less likely to have been evading, e-filing reduces tax payments, suggesting that officials had previously required them to pay more. These firms also pay fewer bribes, as e-filing reduces opportunity for extortion. In all, the results indicate that e-filing reduces compliance costs and makes the distribution of tax payments across firms arguably more equitable. 2018-05-23T20:47:45Z 2018-05-23T20:47:45Z 2018-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/906671526994655975/Technology-taxation-and-corruption-evidence-from-the-introduction-of-electronic-tax-filing http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29862 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8452 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Europe and Central Asia Tajikistan |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
TECHNOLOGY CHANGE E-GOVERNMENT TAXATION ELECTRONIC TAX FILING TAX COMPLIANCE BRIBERY TAX EVASION E-FILING CORRUPTION |
| spellingShingle |
TECHNOLOGY CHANGE E-GOVERNMENT TAXATION ELECTRONIC TAX FILING TAX COMPLIANCE BRIBERY TAX EVASION E-FILING CORRUPTION Okunogbe, Oyebola Pouliquen, Victor Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| geographic_facet |
Europe and Central Asia Tajikistan |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8452 |
| description |
Many e-government initiatives introduce
technology to improve efficiency and avoid potential human
bias. Electronic tax filing (e-filing) is an important
example, as developing countries increasingly adopt online
submission of tax declarations to replace in-person
submission to tax officials. This paper examines the impact
of e-filing on compliance costs, tax payments, and bribe
payments using experimental variation and data from
Tajikistan firms. Firms that e-file have lower compliance
costs, spending five fewer hours each month on fulfilling
tax obligations. There are no significant average effects of
e-filing on tax or bribe payments, but significant
heterogeneity exists across firms by their baseline
likelihood of tax evasion. Among firms previously more
likely to evade, e-filing doubles tax payments, likely by
disrupting collusion with officials. Conversely, among firms
less likely to have been evading, e-filing reduces tax
payments, suggesting that officials had previously required
them to pay more. These firms also pay fewer bribes, as
e-filing reduces opportunity for extortion. In all, the
results indicate that e-filing reduces compliance costs and
makes the distribution of tax payments across firms arguably
more equitable. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Okunogbe, Oyebola Pouliquen, Victor |
| author_facet |
Okunogbe, Oyebola Pouliquen, Victor |
| author_sort |
Okunogbe, Oyebola |
| title |
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| title_short |
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| title_full |
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| title_fullStr |
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption : Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing |
| title_sort |
technology, taxation, and corruption : evidence from the introduction of electronic tax filing |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/906671526994655975/Technology-taxation-and-corruption-evidence-from-the-introduction-of-electronic-tax-filing http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29862 |
| _version_ |
1764470577175724032 |