<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The objective of the paper is to investigate the influence of the inheritance tax on the amount of tax evasion in different countries. The inheritance tax is among the most unpopular taxes. It is assumed, that unpopular taxes, such as the inheritance tax, have a measurable influence on the amount of tax evasion. Countries that levy inheritance taxes and countries which don’t levy inheritance taxes are compared in their success in fighting the shadow economy over a longer period (1991 – 2017). For that, data from Medina and Schneider from 2019 about the development of the shadow economy and from the OECD about the inheritance tax revenue is used. The approach is, to find dependencies between the inheritance tax revenue and the size of the shadow economy. The results show, that countries which abolished the inheritance tax, are not anymore that successful in fighting tax evasion than they were before. There is also evidence, that countries with a relatively high inheritance tax revenue are not able to fight tax evasion to the same extent, as countries that levy relatively low inheritance taxes. Therefore, in terms of reducing tax evasion, it is not recommended to abolish already introduced inheritance taxes, but rather to continue levying a moderate inheritance tax.</p>
</abstract>

The objective of the paper is to investigate the influence of the inheritance tax on the amount of tax evasion in different countries. The inheritance tax is among the most unpopular taxes. It is assumed, that unpopular taxes, such as the inheritance tax, have a measurable influence on the amount of tax evasion. Countries that levy inheritance taxes and countries which don’t levy inheritance taxes are compared in their success in fighting the shadow economy over a longer period (1991 – 2017). For that, data from Medina and Schneider from 2019 about the development of the shadow economy and from the OECD about the inheritance tax revenue is used. The approach is, to find dependencies between the inheritance tax revenue and the size of the shadow economy. The results show, that countries which abolished the inheritance tax, are not anymore that successful in fighting tax evasion than they were before. There is also evidence, that countries with a relatively high inheritance tax revenue are not able to fight tax evasion to the same extent, as countries that levy relatively low inheritance taxes. Therefore, in terms of reducing tax evasion, it is not recommended to abolish already introduced inheritance taxes, but rather to continue levying a moderate inheritance tax.

Influence of Inheritance Tax on the Size of Shadow Economy and the Volume of Tax Evasion

Journal of Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The objective of the paper is to investigate the influence of the inheritance tax on the amount of tax evasion in different countries. The inheritance tax is...

Influence of Inheritance Tax on the Size of Shadow Economy and the Volume of Tax Evasion

Publicado en línea: 10 nov 2022

Páginas: 27 - 43

Recibido: 01 may 2022

Aceptado: 01 jul 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jles-2022-0014

Palabras clave
Inheritance tax, estate tax, tax evasion, shadow economy, tax avoidance

© 2022 Philippe Linseis, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Influence of Inheritance Tax on the Size of Shadow Economy and the Volume of Tax Evasion

Publicado en línea: 10 nov 2022

Páginas: 27 - 43

Recibido: 01 may 2022

Aceptado: 01 jul 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jles-2022-0014

Palabras claveInheritance tax, estate tax, tax evasion, shadow economy, tax avoidance

© 2022 Philippe Linseis, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Palabras clave
Inheritance tax, estate tax, tax evasion, shadow economy, tax avoidance