Taxation, Information and Withholding: Evidence from Costa Rica
To reserve a time to meet with the speaker, please register at the following form:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kLjBd5V63u3W1DGy6lgtS8S9YcbM_dTHDk767ItZwfM/edit#gid=0

Abstract:
In standard tax-compliance models, tax withholding at source is irrelevant. In these models, tax compliance is determined by a combination of enforcement (via audits and penalties), social motives, and third-party reporting, which deters evasion by enabling the tax authority to verify self-reported liability. The fact that third parties may also withhold taxes at source – and the impact of withholding on compliance – has largely been ignored. Yet tax withholding is common around the world: withholding of the personal income tax by employers is almost universal, and withholding is also applied to firms, especially in low-income countries. We provide a simple framework to rationalize the use of tax withholding as a compliance mechanism and test its predictions using administrative data from Costa Rica. We find that doubling the tax withholding rate applied by credit-card companies increases sales tax remittance among treated firms by 39% and aggregate sales tax revenue by 8%, even though the statutory tax rate and third-party reporting requirements remain unchanged. The mechanisms are a default payment effect and a change in enforcement perceptions. Our findings contribute to a broader debate about the determinants of fiscal capacity among countries at different levels of economic development.

Download the paper:
sites.google.com/site/annebrockmeyerworldbank/home
Date: 26 October 2017, 13:00 (Thursday, 3rd week, Michaelmas 2017)
Venue: Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details: Seminar Room C
Speaker: Anne Brockmeyer (World Bank)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Part of: Department of Economics Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Erin Saunders, Anne Pouliquen