Publication: Trust to Pay? Tax Morale and Trust in Africa
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2021-02-14
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2021-07-22
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Although low tax morale hits developing countries hardest, little is known about its determinants in those countries. This paper examines the impact of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale in four African countries. First, the paper provides theoretical foundations of such a relationship. Further, the paper uses the World Value Survey to estimate the effects of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale. The identification strategy employs the instrumental variables method and relies on historical data on the slave trade and the literature on the cultural heritage of trust. The paper finds that trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood are associated with tax morale in Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. The findings are robust to an alternative identification strategy, additional controls, and a falsification test.
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Publication Trust to Pay? Tax Morale and Trust in Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-08)Although low tax morale hits developing countries hardest, little is known about its determinants in those countries. This paper examines the impact of trust in public institutions and the neighborhood on individual tax morale in four African countries: Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. First, the paper provides theoretical foundations of such a relationship. Further, the paper uses the World Value Survey to estimate the effects of trust in public institutions and the neighborhood on individual tax morale. The identification strategy employs the instrumental variables method and relies on historical data on the slave trade and the literature on the cultural heritage of trust. The paper finds that trust in public institutions and the neighborhood are largely associated with tax morale in the African countries under consideration. The findings are robust to an alternative identification strategy, additional controls, and a falsification test.Publication Tax Evasion in Africa and Latin America(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-07)This paper examines the impact of the quality of the business environment as well as the monitoring capacity of the tax agency on firms' tax evasion and production decisions. First, the paper uses firm-level data for 30 African and Latin American countries to show that tax evasion and distortions stemming from the business environment are positively and significantly correlated, while sales not reported for tax purposes and institutional quality are negatively and significantly correlated. Second, the paper develops a general equilibrium model where heterogeneous firms make tax evasion decisions based on their assessment of the quality of their business environment as well as the monitoring capacity of the tax agency. The model simulations for each country in the African and Latin American sample show that the model can explain 35 percent of the variation in tax evasion and more than 49 percent of the dispersion in output per worker across the sample countries. Finally, a series of counterfactual experiments shows that, at the current level of deterrence, governments could decrease sales not reported for tax purposes by 21 percent, by reducing distortions stemming from the business environment by half. The paper presents empirical supporting evidence consistent with testable predictions of the model.Publication Why Do Firms Pay Bribes? Evidence on the Demand and Supply Sides of Corruption in Developing Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10)This paper empirically examines the demand and supply sides of bribery using World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 18,005 firms in 75 developing countries. It assesses the determinants of firms' bribe paying behavior and examine how bribe behavior affects two main sectors where corruption is rampant: taxation and government contracts. The paper shows that corruption in tax administration tends to be mainly a demand-side phenomenon. Paying a bribe requested by a public official is associated with a 16 percent increase in the share firms~^!!^ sales not reported for tax purposes. In public procurement, the results suggest, on the contrary, that corruption is a supply-side phenomenon, with bribe transactions generally initiated by firms to secure public contracts. Firms supplying a bribe without a previous request by officials is associated with a 17 percent increase in the bribe paid to secure a government contract, more than three times the effect observed on the demand side of bribery.Publication Trickle Down Tax Morale(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-01)Studies have encouraged pro-social behavior by experimentally manipulating people's views of what others like them tend to do (descriptive norms). These studies positively change behaviors, including charitable giving, littering, organ donation, and tax compliance. This paper argues that these results may be explained by a tendency to reciprocate positive actions and avoid being taken advantage of. The descriptive norm account predicts that positively describing the behavior of ordinary people will be most effective at increasing citizens’ willingness to pay taxes, and messages describing the behavior of other groups should be less effective. However, reciprocity theory suggests that highlighting pro-social behavior by groups believed not to contribute their fair share, such as rich people, should be effective because it will reduce the subject's perception that they are being taken advantage of when they pay taxes. These theories are tested in an online experiment in Kenya, Australia, the United States, the Philippines, and South Africa. The findings show that the descriptive norms treatment is ineffective, while the rich people treatment significantly increases tax morale, supporting reciprocity theory. The findings suggest that tax agencies may increase tax compliance by visibly tackling tax avoidance among groups believed to avoid taxes, such as rich citizens.Publication Tax Morale and Compliance : Review of Evidence and Case Studies for Europe(2011-12-01)This paper provides an overview of the literature on tax morale and tax compliance. Most of the material here is based on research that I have conducted together with my co-authors over the last 10 years. Europe has a dominant place in this paper. Sometimes results derived from other countries are discussed that could be relevant for Europe. The overall findings show the importance of accountability, democratic governance, efficient, and transparent legal structures and therefore trust within the society to enforce tax compliance and tax morale.
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