Historically, local governments in the United States have relied on the property tax as one of their main sources of own-source revenues. However, the recent collapse of housing prices and the resulting negative impact on local government budgets suggest that it may be opportune to rethink this...

In this paper, we determine how tax law and income distribution changes have separately contributed to the changes in tax progressivity over time, and also how a specific pre-tax distribution of income affects the equalizing ability of a given tax change. We use information from the Current...

What determines government spending in South Africa? The paper estimates the determinants of real per capita government spending in the Republic of South Africa using annual data for the period 1960-2007, a tumultuous period during which South Africa experienced a variety of internally imposed...

This paper uses information on enterprise expenditures on social services in the Russian Federation in combination with local government budget information in the relevant jurisdictions to measure the potential impact on local government budgets of their assumption of social service...

The traditional "enforcement" paradigm of tax administration views taxpayers as potential criminals, and emphasizes the repression of illegal behavior through frequent audits and stiff penalties. However, an important trend in tax administration policies in recent years is the recognition that...

This comprehensive and thought-provoking Handbook reviews public sector economics from pluralist perspectives that either complement or reach beyond mainstream views. The book takes a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, drawing on economic elements in the fields of philosophy, sociology,...

Leading scholars examine recent evidence from theoretical and empirical research on tax compliance and tax evasion, and provide an in-depth analysis of underlying methods. Strategies to fight tax evasion are evaluated and the motivations behind it are explored, as are the impact and size of the...

A significant amount of non-compliance with the personal income tax is due to individuals who have not filed a tax return and so who are not “in the system”. We use experimental laboratory methods to examine the effect of positive inducements for filing a tax return. Our design captures the...

This paper examines the effect of “empathy” and “sympathy” on tax compliance. We run a series of laboratory experiments in which we observe the subjects’ decisions in a series of one-shot Tax Compliance Games presented at once and with no immediate feedback. Importantly, we employ...

Historically, local governments in the United States have relied on the property tax as their main source of own-source revenues. With the recent collapse of housing prices and the resulting increase in foreclosures that followed the “Great Recession”, many observers have speculated that the...