This paper studies the Marginal Cost of Funds (MCF) in the existence of tax evasion. When tax evasion is incorporated as a behavioral response to tax rate change, the MCF can be different than the previously estimated ones in the literature. We develop a general equilibrium model of tax evasion,...

Each year, the government loses hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue due to underreporting by individual taxpayers. According to standard deterrence theory, policymakers should be able to reduce tax evasion by increasing tax penalties, raising the audit rate, or some combination of the...

Using quasi-experimental variation created by a Pakistani tax reform and administrative data, I estimate behavioral responses to taxation in a low tax capacity environment. I find that taxpayers engage in tax evasion, move into informality, and shift earnings to tax-favored business forms in...

The emerging evidence from developing countries suggests that the costs of evasion there are roughly a reverse-L-shaped function of earnings: they are extremely low up to a given threshold and then rise sharply with evasion. Embedding such evasion costs into the standard model generates a...

Using a series of Pakistani tax reforms and administrative records, I document that taxable income responses induced by to-zero tax cuts are orders of magnitude larger than ones induced by similar-sized other cuts. This finding is remarkably robust to alternative specifications and holds for...

This paper examines ethical and behavioral aspects of taxpayers, the financial condition of citizens, tax fairness, taxpayer services, complexities in the tax regime, tax rates, penalties and enforcement, and tax amnesties and the black economy. Primary data were collected by conducting a survey...

This study examines the relation between corporate tax avoidance and firm-level productivity. Using a sample of U.S.-listed firms from 1994 to 2017, we show that, ceteris paribus, greater tax avoidance leads to increased productivity. Consistent with the ''funding gap'' of innovative investments...

This Handbook entry presents a conceptual, normative overview of the subject of taxation. It emphasizes the relationships among the main functions of taxation—notably, raising revenue, redistributing income, and correcting externalities—and the mapping between these functions and various...

Sovereign democratic nations make tax laws that reflect the needs and preferences of their citizens. This straightforward proposition suggests that tax laws may differ from country to country, and they do. Taxpayers may exploit some of these differences to their advantage. Over the past...

Lawmakers have long used the tax code for purposes far beyond simply collecting revenue to fund the federal government. Through the insertion of specialized tax provisions, the tax code is used to achieve policy and political aims as well. But these special provisions come at a price: economic...