Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia
To tackle the illegitimate employer practice of under-reporting salaries, the conventional deterrence policy approach seeks to increase the penalties and risk of detection. Recently, however, calls have been made for a new more indirect approach that enhances tax morale so as to nurture a culture of...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Eastern Journal of European Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ejes.uaic.ro/articles/EJES2017_0801_WIL.pdf |
| _version_ | 1819204588870303744 |
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| author | Colin C. WILLIAMS Josip FRANIC |
| author_facet | Colin C. WILLIAMS Josip FRANIC |
| author_sort | Colin C. WILLIAMS |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To tackle the illegitimate employer practice of under-reporting salaries, the conventional deterrence policy approach seeks to increase the penalties and risk of detection. Recently, however, calls have been made for a new more indirect approach that enhances tax morale so as to nurture a culture of self-regulation. The aim of this paper is to evaluate these two policy approaches. Reporting evidence from 6,019 face-to-face interviews conducted in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia in 2015, logit regression analysis reveals no association between salary under-reporting and the perceived level of penalties and risk of detection, but a strong association between salary under-reporting and the level of tax morale. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for theory and policy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:38:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cab9cdbb1e0842579cb47429c8e3b5d2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2068-651X 2068-6633 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T04:38:12Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Eastern Journal of European Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-cab9cdbb1e0842579cb47429c8e3b5d22022-12-21T17:59:50ZengAlexandru Ioan Cuza University of IasiEastern Journal of European Studies2068-651X2068-66332017-06-0181528Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR MacedoniaColin C. WILLIAMS0Josip FRANIC1University of Sheffield, United KingdomInstitute of Public Finance, Zagreb, CroatiaTo tackle the illegitimate employer practice of under-reporting salaries, the conventional deterrence policy approach seeks to increase the penalties and risk of detection. Recently, however, calls have been made for a new more indirect approach that enhances tax morale so as to nurture a culture of self-regulation. The aim of this paper is to evaluate these two policy approaches. Reporting evidence from 6,019 face-to-face interviews conducted in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia in 2015, logit regression analysis reveals no association between salary under-reporting and the perceived level of penalties and risk of detection, but a strong association between salary under-reporting and the level of tax morale. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for theory and policy.http://ejes.uaic.ro/articles/EJES2017_0801_WIL.pdfenvelope wagestax moraleinformal economySoutheast Europe |
| spellingShingle | Colin C. WILLIAMS Josip FRANIC Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia Eastern Journal of European Studies envelope wages tax morale informal economy Southeast Europe |
| title | Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia |
| title_full | Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia |
| title_fullStr | Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia |
| title_short | Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia |
| title_sort | tackling the illegitimate under reporting of salaries in southeast europe some lessons from a 2015 survey in bulgaria croatia and fyr macedonia |
| topic | envelope wages tax morale informal economy Southeast Europe |
| url | http://ejes.uaic.ro/articles/EJES2017_0801_WIL.pdf |
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