The Economic and Compliance Consequences of Taxation

Patrick James Caragata received his PhD in political economy from the University of Toronto in 1981. In June 1988 he moved to New Zealand and became chief economist at the Ministry of Energy where he redesigned the royalty regime for petroleum. His book Resource Pricing: Rent Recovery Options for New Zealand's Energy and Mineral Industries (1989) is now used as a standard reference tool for designing resource royalties in Asia and Latin America. In 1991 he became chief tax policy adviser with Inland Revenue in New Zealand. He redesigned the petroleum mining taxation regime in 1991, and worked extensively on international tax issues for several years. In 1994 he initiated the work to monitor the Health of the Tax System. As special adviser taxation economics he led the production of 37 working papers and the Report on the Health of the Tax System in September 1997. In October 1997 Dr. Caragata was appointed managing director of McCallum Petterson Financial Diagnostics Ltd. in Wellington. In 1998 he edited The Economic and Compliance Consequences of Taxation: A Report on the Health of the Tax System in New Zealand, also published by Kluwer Academic Publishers.

150 6. 2 Taxation, Economic Growth and Deadweight Loss 152 a. Introduction 152 b. The Tax/GOP Ratio and Economic Growth 155 The Tax Mix and Economic Growth 6. 3 177 6. 4 Taxation and Employment 181 a. Introduction 181 b. Unemployment: An DECO -Wide Problem 184 c. Current Explanations are Unsatisfactory 186 d. Objectives and Methodology 188 e. Labour Force Participation Responses to Tax Changes 188 f. Employment Growth Responses to Tax Changes 189 g. Unemployment Rate Responses to Tax Changes 190 h. Tax Mix Changes and Employment Effects 190 i. Deadweight Loss in Labour Markets 191 j. Conclusions 192 7. REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALTH OF NEW ZEALAND'S TAX SYSTEM 7. 1 Introduction 195 Measuring the "Health" of the Tax System 7. 2 195 7. 3 Key Findings on the Total Tax level and Tax Mix 196 7. 4 Key Findings on the Hidden Economy and Tax Evasion 210 7. 5 Sources of Tax Evasion 214 7. 6 Tax Evasion Responses to Tax Changes 216 Trends in Corporate Tax Payments 219 7. 7 7. 8 Key Findings on Economic Growth and Employment 224 7. 9 'Best Practice' Tax Policy Frontiers and their Implications 229 Summary Scorecard: Economic, Compliance and Revenue Health of 7. 10 the Tax System in New Zealand 231 Appendices Working Papers on Monitoring the Health of the Tax System 1. 234 2.

1. Background and Mandate.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Consequences of Taxation.- 1.3 Mandate for the Report on the Health of the Tax System.- 2. Theoretical And Methodological Framework.- 2.1 Scope of the Research Project on the Health of the Tax System.- 2.2 Defining and Measuring the "Health" Consequences of Taxation.- 2.3 Welfare Economics and the Efficiency, or Performance, Ratio.- 2.4 Taxation and Incentive Structures.- 3. New Zealand Tax Burden & Tax Mix Trends in the Twentieth Century.- 3.1 Tax Burden Trends 1890-1994.- 3.2 The Ratios of Tax Revenue Streams to GDP: Total Tax/GDP Ratio.- 3.3 The Evolution of the Tax Mix.- 3.4 A Comparison of New Zealand and OECD Tax Trends.- 3.5 Total Government Expenditure Trends 1950-2000.- 3.6 Conclusions.- 4. The Hidden Economy, Tax Evasion And The Tax Gap.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 The Legal Limits of Tax Minimisation.- 4.3 The Threat of the Hidden Economy.- 4.4 Learned Behaviour and The Theory of Incentive Structures.- 4.5 The Hidden Economy Model.- 4.6 The Learning Paths of the Hidden Economy and the Tax Gap.- 4.7 The Stakes in the Hidden Economy.- 4.8 A Simulation Model Approach to Taxation and the Hidden Economy.- 4.9 Findings, Conclusions and Implications.- 5. The Revenue Potential of the New Zealand Tax System.- 5.1 The Dimensions of Potential Revenue.- 5.2 Static Potential Revenue Under Existing Rules.- 5.3 Dynamic Revenue Potential: Long Term Tax Revenue Generation.- 5.4 Conclusions.- 6. The Macro Efficiency Effects of Taxation.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Taxation, Economic Growth and Deadweight Loss.- 6.3 The Tax Mix and Economic Growth.- 6.4 Taxation and Employment.- 7. Review And Assessment of the Health of New Zealand's Tax System.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Measuring the "Health" of the Tax System.- 7.3Key Findings on the Total Tax level and Tax Mix.- 7.4 Key Findings on the Hidden Economy and Tax Evasion.- 7.5 Sources of Tax Evasion.- 7.6 Tax Evasion Responses to Tax Changes.- 7.7 Trends in Corporate Tax Payments.- 7.8 Key Findings on Economic Growth and Employment.- 7.9 'Best Practice' Tax Policy Frontiers and their Implications.- 7.10 Summary Scorecard: Economic, Compliance and Revenue Health of the Tax System in New Zealand.- Appendices.- 1. Working Papers on Monitoring the Health of the Tax System.- 2. Different Approaches to Measuring Effective Tax Rates.- About the author.- References.