Heard it Through the Grapevine: Direct and Network Effects of a Tax Enforcement Field Experiment / William C. Boning, John Guyton, Ronald H. Hodge, II, Joel Slemrod, Ugo Troiano.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boning, William C.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Guyton, John.

Hodge, Ronald H, II.

Slemrod, Joel.

Troiano, Ugo.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24305.

NBER working paper series no. w24305

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Heard it Through the Grapevine

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

Tax enforcement may affect both the behavior of those directly treated and of some taxpayers not directly treated but linked via a network to those who are treated. A large-scale randomized field experiment enables us to examine both the direct and network effects of letters and in-person visits on withheld income and payroll tax remittances by at-risk firms. Visited firms remit substantially more tax. Their tax preparers' other clients also remit slightly more tax, while their subsidiaries remit slightly less. Letters have a much smaller direct effect and no network effects, yet may improve compliance at lower cost.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2018.