We show that tax evaders can respond to a tax amnesty, even if enforcement activities do not change, if it is timed to coincide with liberalization and rising incomes. The success of the amnesty, in terms of its effect on tax revenue and welfare, depends on the distribution of the gains from...

We first construct a theoretical model of tax evasion in a stylized developing country in which all taxpayers have either high or low income. The key problem is that the high income taxpayers may under report their income. An individual income tax return can only be verified with an audit that...