IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v30y2018i6p992-1005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Extent and Determinants of Tax Gap in the Informal Sector: Evidence from Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Danquah
  • Eric Osei‐Assibey

Abstract

In this paper, we attempt to estimate the tax gap in the informal sector as well as the contributing factors of the tax losses in SSA countries using Ghana as a case study. Using micro data on non‐farm household enterprises obtained from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey as well as data on quarterly tax payable by specified small scale enterprises derived from the Small Tax Payer office of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the findings show that the national potential and actual taxes in the informal sector are US$ 81 974 846 and US$ 25 023 273, respectively, reflecting an estimated national tax gap or loss of approximately US$ 56 951 573. Firm level variables such as type of business, urban location and experience of the firm significantly increase the propensity to pay tax and reduce the tax gap. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Danquah & Eric Osei‐Assibey, 2018. "The Extent and Determinants of Tax Gap in the Informal Sector: Evidence from Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 992-1005, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:30:y:2018:i:6:p:992-1005
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3361
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3361
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.3361?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siahaan, Fernando & Amberger, Harald & Sureth, Caren, 2023. "Turnover-based corporate income taxation and corporate risk-taking," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 281, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    2. Vanina Adoriana Trifan & Silviu Gabriel Szentesi & Lavinia Denisia Cuc & Mioara Florina Pantea, 2023. "Assessing Tax Compliance Behavior Among Romanian Taxpayers: An Empirical Case Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    3. James Atta Peprah & Francis Kwaw Andoh & Eric Atsu Avorkpo & Kwabena Nkansah Dafor & Benedict Afful Jr & Camara Kwasi Obeng, 2022. "Compliance Burden and Tax Gap Among Micro and Small Businesses: Evidence From Ghana," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    4. Munyaradzi Duve & Daniel P. Schutte, 2021. "A Critical Review of the Characteristics of Presumptive Tax Systems in Developing Countries," Theory Methodology Practice (TMP), Faculty of Economics, University of Miskolc, vol. 17(02), pages 27-43.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:30:y:2018:i:6:p:992-1005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.