Testing Policy Options to FightTax Evasion using Behavioural Insights
Testing Policy Options to FightTax Evasion using Behavioural Insights

Author(s): Adrian Lupuşor, Rustam Romaniuc, Vadim Gumene
Subject(s): Economic policy, Law on Economics, Public Finances, Penal Policy
Published by: EXPERT-GRUP Centrul Analitic Independent
Keywords: fighting tax evasion;
Summary/Abstract: The shadow economy in Moldova has reached the point where it has a very strong and persistent negative impact on the tax revenues, but especially on the economic growth. It placed Moldova among the countries with the highest level of shadow economy in the region. In recent years, the shadow economy in Moldova has been steadily growing and spreading, affecting increasingly the development of the economy. The immediate effects of tax evasion are related to forgone losses to the state budget (fiscal discrepancy). The large size of the shadow economy is mainly due to weak institutions, characterized by limited administrative abilities in the public sector to coordinate and manage the economic system and the relationships that characterize it. In addition, it is caused by perceptions about high fiscal pressure, complexity and instability of fiscal regulations, weakness of the tax administration, moral hazards and contagion (when some individuals observe the behaviour of other individuals and try to replicate for financial gains). In order to properly address this issue in a sustainable way, the policies, so far did not take into account the behavioral insights – the social norms and psychological factors that explain tax evasion in Moldova. This study comes to fill this gap by providing the necessary analytical framework that explains the tax evasion from the behavioral point of view and provides policy recommendations in this regard.

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