Tax Bunching at the Kink in the Presence of Low Capacity of Enforcement: Evidence from Uruguay
73 Pages Posted: 21 May 2019 Last revised: 9 Nov 2024
There are 2 versions of this paper
Digging into the Channels of Bunching: Evidence From the Uruguayan Income Tax
Abstract
By using a bunching design on rich administrative tax records from Uruguay's tax agency we explore how individual taxpayers respond to personal income taxation in a context with high sheltering opportunities. We estimate a moderated elasticity of taxable income in the first kink point (0.16) driven by a combination of gross labor income and deductions responses. Taxpayers use personal deductions more intensively close to the kink point and undereport income unilaterally or through employer-employee collusion. Our results suggest that policy efforts should be directed at broadening the tax base and improving the enforcement capacities rather than eroding tax progressivity.
Keywords: deductions behavior, elasticity of labor income, tax bunching, personal income taxation, misreporting, developing economies
JEL Classification: H21, H24, H30, J22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation