Itemised Deductions: A Device to Reduce Tax Evasion

With direct incentives and sanctions being the most common instruments to fight tax evasion, the theoretical literature has tended to overlook indirect schemes, such as itemised deductions, in which one agent's behaviour affects the likelihood that others will declare their revenue. Itemised de...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Piolatto, Amedeo
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Data de publicação:2015
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositório:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/108983
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/108983
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Frau fiscal
Frau de llei
Impostos sobre societats
Tax evasion
Evasion of the law
Corporate taxes
Descrição
Resumo:With direct incentives and sanctions being the most common instruments to fight tax evasion, the theoretical literature has tended to overlook indirect schemes, such as itemised deductions, in which one agent's behaviour affects the likelihood that others will declare their revenue. Itemised deductions provide an incentive for consumers to declare their purchases. This induces a partial shift in the demand from the black market to the legal one, for consumers need a transaction receipt to enjoy the tax deduction. I show that it is possible to increase tax proceeds by choosing a suitable level of itemised deduction, and this, for any level of taxation. Indeed, the cost for the tax authority on the consumers' side is more than compensated for by the extra proceeds generated on the sellers' side