Measurement of Tax Gap and Analysis of Tax Gap Components in OECD Countries: Panel Data Method


UYGUN E., GERÇEK A.

Hacettepe Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, cilt.41, sa.2, ss.334-354, 2023 (Hakemli Dergi) identifier

Özet

Today, tax gap and measurement of tax gap is an important issue. In this study, in order to contribute to the literature, the tax gap of 35 OECD countries for the years 2005-2017 was measured. In the study, GDP, total tax rate and informal economy rates were used. The countries with the lowest tax gap rates are Luxembourg and Switzerland. The countries with the highest tax gap rates are Colombia, Greece and Costa Rica. In addition, the effects of GDP, total tax rate and informal economy rate on the size of the tax gap were examined. The data were tested by applying the panel data analysis method, cross-section dependency, unit root test and fixed effects models. According to the model's results, the informal economy rate increases the tax gap with the increase in the total tax rate and GDP. The tax gap, which exceeds the acceptable level, harms the economies. For this reason, it is very important that the tax gap remains at a controllable level. In this context, it is necessary to make legal arrangements in order to register the informal economy.