Targeting in Tax Compliance Interventions : Experimental Evidence from Honduras / Giselle Del Carmen, Thiago De Gouvea Scot De Arruda, Edgardo Enrique Espinal Hernandez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Del Carmen, Giselle, author.

Espinal Hernandez, Edgardo Enrique, author.

Arruda, Thiago De Gouvea Scot De, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Taxation.

Income tax.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (66 pages)

Other Title:

Targeting in Tax Compliance Interventions

Place of Publication:

Washington, District of Columbia : World Bank, 2022.

Summary:

Tax authorities often use low-cost communication with taxpayers to encourage voluntary compliance and avoid other costly interventions. This paper reports findings from an experiment with more than 30,000 taxpayers in Honduras, designed to assess how taxpayers with different risk scores respond to a communication intervention. Across several outcomes, the average effect of the intervention on compliance was 0. Contrary to the expectation of experts surveyed, only taxpayers considered to be at low risk of noncompliance increase their filing and reported income. Using rich administrative data and a causal forest algorithm, the paper finds that ex-ante predicted risk and responsiveness to the intervention are negatively correlated. These findings can inform the design of targeted interventions by tax authorities.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Publisher Number:

10.1596/1813-9450-9967