This manual focuses on surveys of business taxpayers regarding their percep- tions of tax compliance and their experiences with tax compliance costs. Tax per- ception and compliance cost surveys (TPCCSs) are critical to assessing the efficiency of tax regimes. These surveys gather quantifiable data on the costs of compliance, including the hidden burdens imposed on businesses (in addition to actual tax pay- ments) through the compliance process. Understanding perceptions is important to gauging changes in tax morale (the intrinsic motivation for people to pay taxes) and general trends in tax compliance (including difficult to measure but critical features like the extent of corruption and the legitimacy of and trust in the state).
Numerous surveys attempting to collect information on taxpayer perceptions of tax regimes have been conducted in various developing countries. Compliance cost surveys are somewhat less common but have been conducted in Croatia, India, Malaysia, Peru, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, and the Republic of Yemen. Though the number of developing countries where these surveys have been conducted is limited, their results and lessons for galvanizing business tax reform are becoming ripe for review.
Comments are closed.