Tax Evasion & Whistleblowers: Curious Policy or Durable Strategy?

Abstract

The scope of tax evasion in developing countries represents cause for extreme fiscal concern. To combat this, a host of conventional and unconventional strategies are being deployed by fiscal authorities around the world. This paper examines the practitioner and academic context in which tax evasion whistleblowing can be made into an effective strategy for minimizing tax evasion in developing countries, seeking specific application to the context of Pakistan, where the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced a policy of rewarding whistleblowers with a portion of the recovery proceeds from tax evasion cases.

Keywords: tax evasion, tax avoidance, whistleblowers, tax, revenue collection