Tax Administration versus Tax Rates: Evidence from Corporate Taxation in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (12) ◽  
pp. 3827-3871
Author(s):  
M. Chatib Basri ◽  
Mayara Felix ◽  
Rema Hanna ◽  
Benjamin A. Olken
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Corporate Taxation ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax Administration ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Taxable Income ◽  
Elasticity Of Taxable Income ◽  
Percentage Points

We compare two approaches to increasing tax revenue: tax administration and tax rates. We show that when Indonesia moved top regional firms into “medium taxpayer offices,” with high staff-to-taxpayer ratios, tax revenue more than doubled. Examining nonlinear changes to corporate income tax rates, we estimate an elasticity of taxable income of 0.579. Combining these estimates, improved tax administration is equivalent to raising top rates on all firms by 8 percentage points. On net, improved tax administration can have significant returns for developing countries. (JEL H25, H26, K34, O17)

Corporate Taxation under Weak Enforcement

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-71
Author(s):  
Pierre Bachas ◽  
Mauricio Soto
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Corporate Taxation ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Taxable Profit

How should developing countries tax corporate income? We study this question in Costa Rica, where firms face higher average tax rates on profits when revenues marginally increase. We combine discontinuity and bunching designs to estimate the elasticity of taxable profit and separate it into revenue and cost elasticities. We find that firms faced with a higher tax rate slightly reduce revenues but considerably increase costs, thus producing a large elasticity of taxable profit of 3–5. In this context, the revenue-maximizing rate for a corporate tax on profit is below 25 percent, and we show that a tax policy that broadens the base while lowering the rate can almost double the tax revenue collected from these firms. (JEL D22, H25, H26, H32, K34, L25, O23)

scholarly journals ASSESSMENT OF FAVOURABLENESS FOR THE TAX SYSTEM OF UKRAINE IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentyna Martynenko
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Administration ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
The Government ◽  
Tax Payments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Average Index

The purpose of the article is to study the background and key factors that ensured an increase in the ranking of the Ukrainian tax system favourableness from the 174th position to the 43-d position during 2005–2016 – the greatest progress in the whole history of the “Paying Taxes” ranking. Methodology. The research was made on the basis of the countries ranking method according to the tax system favourableness, conducted by the World Bank together with the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for the implementation of the annual “Paying Taxes” ranking. The ranking is based on the analysis of: taxes and mandatory deductions that a typical medium-sized enterprise must pay in the concerned year; the administrative burden connected with the payment of taxes and deductions; processes after filing and paying taxes. Another method used in the article is the regression analysis of the impact of the unified social tax rate, the corporate income tax rate, the personal income tax rate, the volume of tax revenues, consolidated budget revenues and gross domestic product (GDP) in actual prices on the ranking position of Ukraine in the “Paying Taxes”. Results. In course of the study, it was found that the increase of the ranking of Ukraine from the 174th to the 43-d position in the “Paying Taxes” during 2005–2016 became possible due to the liberalization of taxation for 2013–2017, in particular, the reduction of the corporate income tax rate by 7% and the unified social tax rate by 10%. Other factors are as such: improving the tax administration quality: reducing the time for registration, filing and tax payment from 2185 hours in 2005 to 328 hours in 2016, with the worldwide average index of 240 hours per year; reducing the number of tax payments from 98 in 2005 to 5 (the worldwide average index is 24 payments) in 2016. Practical implications. The result of the effective tax policy of the Government of Ukraine was the reduction of the total tax burden on business from 60.3% in 2005 to 37.8% in 2016 at the worldwide average index of 40.5% at the end of the investigated period. Also, during 2005–2016, the consolidated budget revenues grew from 131.3 to 782.7 billion UAH, including tax ones – from 100.7 to 650.8 billion UAH. Value/originality. Based on the results of the study, the author substantiated that the main factor of the significant progress of the tax system of Ukraine in the “Paying Taxes” ranking (from the 174th to the 43-d position during 2005–2016) was the liberalization of taxation by reducing the tax rates of corporate income tax and a unified social tax, as well as improving the quality and efficiency of tax administration.

Taxation in a mixed economy: the case of China

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davidson Sinclair ◽  
Larry Li
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Effective Tax Rate ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
For Profit

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese firms’ ownership structure is related to their effective tax rate. The People’s Republic of China provides an interesting environment to examine the corporate income tax. Government has significant ownership stakes in the for-profit economy and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are liable to the corporate income tax. This is very different to most other economies where SOE tends to dominate the not-for-profit economy and pays no corporate income tax. Government ownership also varies between the central government and local government in addition to state asset management bureaus. This provides a rich institutional background to examining the corporate income tax. Design/methodology/approach A panel data analysis approach is used to examine relationship between ownership structure and effective tax rates of all public firms in China from 1999 to 2009. Findings The authors report that effective tax rates do appear to vary across the ownership types, but that SOEs pay a statistically higher effective tax rate than to non-state-owned. In addition, local government owned SOE pay higher effective tax rates than central government and SAMB owned SOE. The authors also investigate Zimmerman’s (1983) political cost hypothesis. Unfortunately, these results are econometrically fragile with the statistical significance of those results varying by empirical technique. Originality/value This paper provides insight into government ownership and taxation in China.

scholarly journals The Effect of Corruption and Governance on Tax Revenues

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (4II) ◽  
pp. 405-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahseen Ajaz ◽  
Eatzaz Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax Administration ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Revenue Generation ◽  
Quality Of Governance

Developing countries are typically unable to generate sufficient amount of revenue from taxation because these countries face a number of institutional problems in the process of revenue generation. One of the main problems is corruption in tax administration. The two important components of revenue generation are tax administration and tax system reforms [Brondolo, et al. (2008)]. The main objective of these is to increase the efficiency of tax administrations, specifically by reducing corruption and tax evasion. The second main problem of low revenue generation is political instabilities in developing countries. One of the important characteristics of political instability is unstable and governments and, hence, incoherent policy framework, which hinder in the process of long-term reforms in the system. The quality of governance as a whole is also relevant in this context. It is widely agreed that the presence of tax evasion and corruption of public officials is a social phenomenon that can significantly reduce tax revenue and seriously hurt economic growth and development.

scholarly journals Beneficial ownership of income as an antiabusive measure in Serbian Tax Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (88) ◽  
pp. 217-232
Author(s):  
Miloš Vasović
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Double Taxation ◽  
Current Function ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Treaty Shopping ◽  
Beneficial Ownership ◽  
The One

The Serbian Corporate Income Tax Act contains a provision on the beneficial ownership of income (hereinafter: the BO provision), which is one of the conditions for the application of the preferential tax rate on income tax after tax deduction, which is envisaged in Treaties for the avoidance of Double Taxation on income and capital (hereinafter: Double Taxation Treaties/ DTTs). The subject matter of research in this paper is the term "beneficial ownership", which is not defined in the Corportate Income Tax Act. It may ultimately lead to abusing the preferential tax rates from the DTTs in tax planning and "treaty shopping" through the use of conduit companies. Tax experts have different opinions on the legal nature of the BO provision, which is given the function of an anti-abusive measure (on the one hand) and a rule for the attribution of income (on the other hand). The author analyzes the current function of the BO provision envisaged in the Serbian Serbian Corporate Income Tax Act (CITA), and its inadequate application. The author advocates for enacting the BO provision as an anti-abusive measure, and examines the possible application of the BO provision in domestic tax law, with reference to Articles 10, 11, and 12 of the DTTs that Serbia contracted with other states, as well as Articles 10-12 of the OECD Model-Convention on Income and Capital (2017) and Commentaries on these articles. Such an application of the BO provision may preclude "treaty shopping". In final remarks, the author points out why the BO provision should be envisaged as an anti-abusive measure in Serbian tax law.

scholarly journals Management Of Accrual Components In Response To Corporate Income Tax Rate Changes: Evidence From Korea

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won-Wook Choi ◽  
Hyun-Ah Lee
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Taxable Income ◽  
Accruals Management ◽  
Accrual Management ◽  
Aggressive Tax Avoidance ◽  
Statutory Tax Rate

Changes in the statutory corporate income tax rate provide firms with an opportunity to reduce their tax burden by shifting their taxable income from higher to lower tax rate years. One negative consequence of shifting taxable income across years is higher variation in book income for financial reporting purposes. Taxable income and book income are closely related in most countries, and, in general, reporting volatile book income across years is not a favorable signal to investors. This study investigates how firms shift taxable income and concurrently mitigate book income fluctuation by managing accrual components separately when the statutory income tax rate changes. Unlike prior studies, we decompose discretionary accruals into two components and examine distinctive patterns of accrual management in Korea, where book-tax conformity is high and aggressive tax avoidance is restricted. We find that firms manage book-tax accruals for taxable income shifting and manage book-only accruals to mitigate book income fluctuation. Furthermore, we find the extent of book-tax and book-only accruals management varies depending on the firms tax and financial reporting costs. The results of this study provide clear and compelling evidence of firms opportunistic accrual management behavior in response to statutory tax rate reduction.

IMPROVING TAX ADMINISTRATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY

2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jalia Kangave
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Gross Domestic Product ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax Administration ◽  
Internal Revenue ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

KANGAVE, JALIA, Improving tax administration: a case study of the Uganda Revenue authority, Journal of African Law, 49, 2 (2005): 145–176The prevalence of poverty in developing countries demands that these countries should improvise internal revenue generating projects to supplement, or better still, ultimately significantly reduce dependence on foreign funding. This way self-sustaining economies will be built. One such internal revenue-generating mechanism, and perhaps the most commonly used, is taxation. This paper makes a case for tax administration as a tool of increasing the contribution of tax revenue to Gross Domestic Product, and consequently, a means of reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. The goal of this paper is to propose ways in which the Uganda Revenue Authority (the URA) can improve its tax administration. To achieve this objective, the paper begins with a detailed discussion of the URA's structure and the procedures it follows in collecting taxes. It then highlights the problems that may arise from such structure and procedures, before making proposals on how the URA can reform its organizational structure and processes to maximize its potential in revenue collection capabilities.

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