Tax Losses Due to Shadow Economy Activities in OECD Countries from 2011 to 2013: A Preliminary Calculation

Abstract

In this short paper an attempt is undertaken to calculate the tax losses which result from shadow economy activities in a country. These calculations are done for the 28 EU countries, for 3 non-EU countries and for 2 other highly-developed OECD countries. The total tax losses over all 28 EU-countries make up 450.8 billion euros or 3.6% of EU-28-GDP in 2011. In 2012 it were 457.3 billion euros or 3.5% of EU-28-GDP and in 2013 454.2 billion euros or 3.4% of EU-28-GDP. For the whole country sample used in this paper the tax losses amounted to 698.7 billion euros or 2.4% of GDP of these 33 countries in 2011. In 2012 the value of tax losses was 737.2 billion euros or 2.3% of GDP and in 2013 it was 713.1 billion euros or also 2.3% of total GDP of these 33 countries.

Keywords: tax losses, shadow economy, tax and social security contribution burden

JEL Classification: E260, H260, K420, O170