Re-Assessing the Merits of Measuring Tax Evasions Through Surveys: Evidence from Serbian Firms

While there is no doubt that tax evasion is widespread in developing countries, exact measures of its extent are difficult to obtain because, by definition, tax evasion is hidden. However, such estimates are often critical from a policy perspective, for instance to assess the pay‐offs of costly countervailing measures. One obvious and potentially timely source of information are taxpayer surveys. However, data on self-reported tax evasion obtained through surveys are typically not reliable. The reason is that survey respondents can be expected to answer questions about tax evasion (or other sensitive topics) not truthfully out of fear of the negative consequences that this may entail if their answers are revealed.

Kundt, Thorben C., Florian Misch and Birger Nerré (2013), Re-Assessing the Merits of Measuring Tax Evasions Through Surveys: Evidence from Serbian Firms, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 13-047, Mannheim.