We study the impact of tax and minimum wage reforms on the incidence of informality. Togauge the incidence of informality, we use measures of the extent of tax evasion, the extentof minimum wage non-compliance, and the size of the informal workforce. Our approachallows us to examine (i) the...

This paper examines the interaction between minimum wage legislation and tax evasion byemployed labor. I develop a model in which firms and workers may agree to report less thanthe true amount of earnings to the fiscal authorities. I show that introducing a minimum wagecreates a spike in the...

The main purpose of this paper is to estimate the size and the growth of Quebec’sunderground economy, and the corresponding loss of taxes for the government. Ourapproach is based on a method developed by Pissarides and Weber (1989) and extended byLyssiotou et al. (2004). The basic hypothesis...

Using micro-level data, we examine the effects of Russia`s 2001 flat rate income tax reformon consumption, income, and tax evasion. We use the gap between household expendituresand reported earnings as a proxy for tax evasion with data from a household panel for 1998-2004. Utilizing...

We study experimentally how taxpayers choose between two taxregimes to fund a public good. The first-best tax regime imposes ageneral, distortion-free income tax. However, this tax cannot be enforced.The second-best alternative supplements the income tax by a specificcommodity tax. This tax...

We present an experimental study on the wasted resources associated with tax evasion. The waste arises from taxpayers and tax authorities, investing costly effort in concealment, respectively detect ion, of tax evasion. We show that (socially ineffcient) efforts depend positively on the...

Dynamics of compliance, depending on audit probability, sanctions, and the time lagbetween audits, are investigated in a tax experiment. Compliance varied significantlyover time: it decreased immediately after an audit and increased afterwards, especially if audits were frequent and sanctions high.

In an overlapping generations-experiment with multiple families participants caneither support their parents directly and thereby reduce their tax burden or hopefor tax-financed old age support. State productivity is captured by the factor withwhich total tax revenues are multiplied to determine...

Am 22.04.2009 wurde das sog. „Steuerhinterziehungsbekämpfungsgesetz“vom Kabinett abgesegnet und soll möglichstnoch in der laufenden Legislaturperiodein Kraft treten. Im Kern geht es umverschärfte Mitwirkungs- und Informationspflichtennicht nur des einzelnen Steuerbürgers,sondern auch von...