Remittances and public finances: Evidence from oil-price shocks

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Asatryan, Zareh; Bittschi, Benjamin; Doerrenberg, Philipp
• 署名单位: Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW); University of Mannheim; Helmholtz Association; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW); Ifo Institut; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.09.009
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 122-137
• 关键词: remittances; Tax revenue; Tax policy; Value added tax; personal income tax; migration; Development

摘要

We study the effect of inflowing remittances - a major source of capital for many countries - on tax revenues and tax policy. Instrumenting remittances with changes in the oil-price interacted with a country's distance to oil producing countries, we find that remittances have a large positive effect on VAT revenues, but no effect on income-tax revenues. This suggests that remittances often escape the income tax but can be taxed via consumption. We further show that tax policy is responsive to shocks in incoming remittances; they lead to a decrease in VAT-rates and increase the likelihood for a VAT introduction. We find no evidence for effects of remittances on income-tax rates.