Social networks and tax avoidance: evidence from a well-defined Norwegian tax shelter

被引:13
作者
Alstadsaeter, Annette [1 ]
Kopczuk, Wojciech [2 ]
Telle, Kjetil [3 ,4 ]
机构
[1] Norwegian Univ Life Sci, As, Norway
[2] Columbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USA
[3] Stat Norway, Oslo, Norway
[4] Norwegian Inst Publ Hlth, Oslo, Norway
关键词
Tax avoidance; Social interactions; Family networks; Dividend tax reform; Administrative micro data; Tax shelters; Holding corporations; OPTIMIZATION FRICTIONS; NEUTRAL TAXATION; ELASTICITIES; INFORMATION; DECISIONS; RESPONSES; SALIENCE; MICRO;
D O I
10.1007/s10797-019-09568-3
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
In 2005, over 8% of Norwegian shareholders transferred their shares to new (legal) tax shelters intended to defer taxation of capital gains and dividends that would otherwise be taxable in the aftermath of a reform implemented in 2006. Using detailed administrative data, we identify family networks and describe how take-up of tax avoidance progresses within a network. A feature of the reform was that the eligibility to set up a tax shelter changed discontinuously with individual shareholding of a firm and we use this fact to estimate the causal effect of availability of tax avoidance for a taxpayer on tax avoidance by others in the network. We find that eligibility in a social network increases the likelihood that others will take-up. This suggests that taxpayers affect each other's decisions about tax avoidance, highlighting the importance of accounting for social interactions in understanding enforcement and tax avoidance behavior, and providing a concrete example of optimization frictions in the context of behavioral responses to taxation.
引用
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页码:1291 / 1328
页数:38
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