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Audit Misperception, Tax Compliance, and Optimal Uncertainty

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  • YOUNGSE KIM

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the role of taxpayers’ misperceptions in determining compliance behavior. This paper also analyzes the effect of increased randomness on evasion, revenue, and welfare. Whether or not individuals choose to evade taxes depends on the perceived audit probability and on the fraction of honest taxpayers in the population. When individuals know the precise probability of audit, the model becomes in effect a game of coordination, a situation that gives rise to multiple equilibria. This paper incorporates audit misperception by introducing a small amount of uncertainty about the true audit probability. With the introduction of this uncertainty, we verify that there is a unique equilibrium cutoff point, such that each taxpayer evades if and only if his perceived signal falls below this cutoff. It is argued that this unique equilibrium outcome fares better than others in explaining empirical and experimental observations. We also find that, when reducing uncertainty has no cost, the optimal uncertainty is generally indeterminate, even when including zero uncertainty. Finally, we show that, when reducing uncertainty is costly, eliminating all uncertainty can never be optimal. In the limit as this cost vanishes, the optimal uncertainty is unique, meaning that introducing a small amount of enforcement cost resolves the indeterminacy problem.

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  • Youngse Kim, 2005. "Audit Misperception, Tax Compliance, and Optimal Uncertainty," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(3), pages 521-541, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:7:y:2005:i:3:p:521-541
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2005.00215.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Frank A. Cowell, 1990. "Cheating the Government: The Economics of Evasion," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262532484, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Amedeo Piolatto & Matthew D. Rablen, 2017. "Prospect theory and tax evasion: a reconsideration of the Yitzhaki puzzle," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 543-565, April.
    2. Sanchez Villalba, Miguel, 2015. "Global inspection games," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 59-72.
    3. Sanchez-Villalba, Miguel, 2006. "Anti-evasion auditing policy in the presence of common income shocks," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6543, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Hanjoon M. Jung & Meng‐Yu Liang & C.C. Yang, 2022. "How much should we fund the IRS?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(1), pages 120-139, February.
    5. Daniel McFadden, 2009. "The human side of mechanism design: a tribute to Leo Hurwicz and Jean-Jacque Laffont," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 13(1), pages 77-100, April.
    6. Mohd Amran Mahat & Lai Ming Ling, 2011. "Featuring Tax Education in Non-accounting Curriculum: Survey Evidence," EconStor Conference Papers 56066, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Gemmell, Norman & Ratto, Marisa, 2012. "Behavioral Responses to Taxpayer Audits: Evidence From Random Taxpayer Inquiries," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(1), pages 33-57, March.
    8. Feng Xiong & Shaojie Xiang & Peng Jin, 2019. "Study On Computational Experiments Of C2c Tax Compliance Based On Information Of Cybermediaries," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(02), pages 1-29, March.
    9. Barbara Hartl & Eva Hofmann & Katharina Gangl & Martina Hartner-Tiefenthaler & Erich Kirchler, 2015. "Does the Sole Description of a Tax Authority Affect Tax Evasion? - The Impact of Described Coercive and Legitimate Power," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, April.

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