Informal Taxation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Olken, Benjamin A.; Singhal, Monica
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); National Bureau of Economic Research; Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.3.4.1
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 1-28
• 关键词: self-help; Local taxation; public-goods; decentralization; Donations; harambee; finance

摘要

Informal payments are a frequently overlooked source of local public finance in developing countries. We use microdata from ten countries to establish stylized facts on the magnitude, form, and distributional implications of this informal taxation. Informal taxation is widespread, particularly in rural areas, with substantial in-kind labor payments. The wealthy pay more, but pay less in percentage terms, and informal taxes are more regressive than formal taxes. Failing to include informal taxation underestimates household tax burdens and revenue decentralization in developing countries. We discuss various explanations for and implications of these observed stylized facts.