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Distributional implications of income tax evasion in Greece, Hungary and Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Matsaganis, Manos
  • Benedek, Dóra
  • Flevotomou, Maria
  • Lelkes, Orsolya
  • Mantovani, Daniela
  • Nienadowska, Sylwia
Abstract
Even though tax evasion has been the focus of a growing volume of research in recent years, the issue of its distributional impact is still relatively neglected. This paper is an attempt to analyse empirically the implications of tax evasion in terms of inequality, poverty, redistribution and progressivity of the income tax system in Greece, Hungary and Italy (three countries featuring an extensive informal economy). The paper applies the discrepancy method, i.e. compares two sets of data, household budget surveys and income tax returns, to derive ratios of under-reporting by income source and geographical area. The tax-benefit model EUROMOD is used to estimate the distributional impact of tax evasion comparing household disposable incomes to a full compliance counterfactual.

Suggested Citation

  • Matsaganis, Manos & Benedek, Dóra & Flevotomou, Maria & Lelkes, Orsolya & Mantovani, Daniela & Nienadowska, Sylwia, 2010. "Distributional implications of income tax evasion in Greece, Hungary and Italy," MPRA Paper 21465, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:21465
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. European Commission, 2013. "Tax reforms in EU Member States - Tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability – 2013 Report," Taxation Papers 38, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    3. Thomas Wainwright, 2013. "Which Crisis? The Need to Understand Spaces of (Non)Tax in the Economic Recovery," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(5), pages 1008-1012, May.
    4. Athanasia Chalari & Clive Sealey & Mike Webb, 2016. "A Comparison of Subjective Experiences and Responses to Austerity of UK and Greek Youth," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 102, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    5. Shami, Labib, 2019. "Dynamic monetary equilibrium with a Non-Observed Economy and Shapley and Shubik’s price mechanism," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Platon Monokroussos & Dimitrios Thomakos & Thomas A. Alexopoulos & Eleni Lydia Tsioli, 2017. "The Determinants of Loan Loss Provisions: An Analysis of the Greek Banking System in Light of the Sovereign Debt Crisis," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Platon Monokroussos & Christos Gortsos (ed.), Non-Performing Loans and Resolving Private Sector Insolvency, chapter 9, pages 181-225, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Marlena Piekut & Kamil Piekut, 2022. "Changes in Patterns of Consumer Spending in European Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, October.
    8. Konstantinos Kougias, 2017. "‘Real’ Flexicurity Worlds in action: Evidence from Denmark and Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 106, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    9. Félix Domínguez-Barrero & Julio López-Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo-Sauco, 2017. "Tax evasion in Spanish Personal Income Tax by income sources, 2005–2008: from the synthetic to the dual tax," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 47-65, August.
    10. Kyriopoulos, Ilias & Nikoloski, Zlatko & Mossialos, Elias, 2019. "The impact of the Greek economic adjustment programme on household health expenditure," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 274-284.
    11. Fauser, Hannes, 2019. "On income tax avoidance - the case of Germany revisited," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203550, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Félix Domínguez Barrero & Julio López Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo Sauco, 2015. "Fraude en el IRPF por fuentes de renta, 2005-2008: del impuesto sintético al impuesto dual," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2015-14, FEDEA.
    13. Jordaan, Jacob A. & Monastiriotis, Vassilis, 2016. "The domestic productivity effects of FDI in Greece: loca(lisa)tion matters!," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68816, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Giancarlo Corsetti & Michael P. Devereux & John Hassler & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Xavier Vives, 2011. "Chapter 3: Greece," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 97-125, February.
    15. Rosa VAsilaki, 2016. "Policing the crisis in Greece: The others' side of the story," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 98, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    16. Chalari, Athanasia & Sealey, Clive & Webb, Mike, 2016. "A comparison of subjective experiencesand responses to austerity of UK andGreek youth," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68585, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Sara Torregrosa, 2015. "Bypassing progressive taxation: fraud and base erosion in the Spanish income tax (1970-2001)," Working Papers 2015/31, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    18. Kougias, Konstantinos, 2017. "‘Real’ flexicurity worlds in action: evidence from Denmark and Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69576, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Antonia Gkergki, 2020. "The relationship between energy consumption and economic growth: New evidence from Greece," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(2), pages 131-153.
    20. Stavros Thomadakis, Dimitrios Gounopoulos, Christos Nounis and Michalis Riginos, 2014. "Financial Innovation and Growth: Listings and IPOs from 1880 to World War II in the Athens Stock Exchange," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 86, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    21. Andrea Albarea & Michele Bernasconi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi, 2020. "Income Underreporting and Tax Evasion in Italy: Estimates and Distributional Effects," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(4), pages 904-930, December.
    22. Masca, Simona-Gabriela & Chis, Diana-Maria, 2023. "Distributional implications of informal economy in the EU countries: Accounting for the spread of tax evasion benefits and cultural characteristics," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PB).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax evasion; inequality; microsimulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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