What you do (not) get when expanding the net - Evidence from forced taxpayer registrations in South Africa

IF 5.1 1区 经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS Journal of Development Economics Pub Date : 2024-10-16 DOI:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103388
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Abstract

A significant share of firms in developing countries is not registered for income taxation. Expanding the tax net is a priority for many governments, but most formalization policies proved relatively ineffective in bringing firms into the tax net. Drawing on rich tax administrative data, we document that snapshot-synchronizations of the business tax and the commercial registry in South Africa led to a large-scale expansion of the South African business taxpayer net. While the targeted firms are a valuable segment within the non-formal sector, we show that their post-registration tax compliance is weak and few of them pay taxes. Owing to the large scope of the tax net expansion, the aggregate revenue gains are, nevertheless, non-negligible and the interventions are fiscally cost-effective. In additional analyses, we provide evidence for enforcement spillovers: In areas where many firms were drawn into the tax net, tax registration timing compliance significantly improved after the snapshot synchronizations. We find no indication of a drop in registration numbers at the commercial registry.
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扩大税网,你会得到什么(而不是什么)--南非强制纳税人登记的证据
发展中国家有很大一部分企业没有进行所得税登记。扩大税网是许多国家政府的当务之急,但事实证明,大多数正规化政策在将企业纳入税网方面效果相对较差。利用丰富的税务管理数据,我们记录了南非营业税和商业登记的快照同步化导致了南非商业纳税人网络的大规模扩张。虽然目标企业是非正规部门中的重要组成部分,但我们发现它们在注册后的纳税遵从度很低,而且很少有人纳税。由于税网扩大的范围很大,总的税收收益是不可忽略的,而且干预措施具有财政成本效益。在其他分析中,我们提供了执法溢出效应的证据:在许多企业被纳入税网的地区,税务登记时间的合规性在快照同步后显著提高。我们没有发现商业登记处登记数量下降的迹象。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
8.30
自引率
4.00%
发文量
126
审稿时长
72 days
期刊介绍: The Journal of Development Economics publishes papers relating to all aspects of economic development - from immediate policy concerns to structural problems of underdevelopment. The emphasis is on quantitative or analytical work, which is relevant as well as intellectually stimulating.
期刊最新文献
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