Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Chambers College of Business and Economics

Department

Economics

Committee Chair

Mehmet S. Tosun.

Abstract

Using a panel data from 1972 to 1999, the first essay of this dissertation analyzes how VAT evasion has changed as reliance on VAT in the sample of 25 OECD countries increased. The VAT ratio and VAT share are used as alternative measures of VAT reliance as independent variables. The results show that an increase in the VAT ratio and VAT share decreases VAT evasion. Overall, the results are quite robust to the various regression specifications.;Proponents argue that tax amnesties raise revenues both in the short run and the long run, by bringing former non-filers back into the tax system. Opponents contend that amnesties produce little short-run revenue and weaken incentives for long-run tax compliance. Over the last 23 years, 27 states offered tax amnesties for a second or third time. While previous research has estimated the impact of specific tax amnesties, none have estimated how the impact changes when they are offered repeatedly. The results from the second essay of this dissertation show that these additional tax amnesties generate less short-run revenue than predecessors and tend to magnify revenue losses associated with disincentives for long-run tax compliance.;The third and the last essay utilizes time series methods to analyze the Colorado, Maine and West Virginia tax amnesties, using quarterly total tax revenue data for the period from 1980 to 2002. The results show that the Colorado amnesty had no short run or long run impact on tax collections. At the same time, the results also show that the Maine and West Virginia tax amnesties raised revenues in the short run but that revenue collections actually fell in these states in the long run.

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