
Abstract
Tax non-filing is legal in more than thirty countries worldwide. Using German administrative tax data, we examine the effect of such optional (non-)filing systems: Low-income taxpayers are both more likely not to file and to over-remit taxes, aggregating to total over-remittances of 950 millione in 2014. Because low-income non-filers face higher effective average tax rates, this reduces the effective tax progressivity. Non-filing also increases effective marginal tax rates which imposes distortionary effects for non-filers with no mechanical tax revenue gain from other taxpayers, leading to unexploited tax revenue potential. We suggest two reform proposals to quantify this potential.
Item Type: | Paper |
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Keywords: | Tax Filing, Optional Filing, Effective Taxation, Tax Over-Remittance, Tax Progressivity |
Faculties: | Economics > Chairs > Seminar for Economic Policy |
Subjects: | 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics |
JEL Classification: | H24, H29, H131 |
URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-epub-77429-7 |
Item ID: | 77429 |
Date Deposited: | 22. Sep 2021, 08:21 |
Last Modified: | 22. Sep 2021, 08:22 |