Abstract
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. E26, H26, K42, O17.
References
Feld, L., & Schneider, F. (2010), Survey on the Shadow Economy and Undeclared Earnings in OECD Countries, German Economic Review, 11(2), 109-149. doi. 10.1111/j.1468-0475.2010.00509.x
Murphy, R. (2011), The Cost of Tax Abuse: A briefing paper on the cost of tax evasion worldwide, The Tax Justice Network, Chesham (UK), November 2011.
Schneider, F., & Williams, C.C. (2013), The Shadow Economy, IEA. Institute for Economc Affairs, London.
Schneider, F. (2015a), Schattenwirtschaft und Schattenarbeitsmärkte: Die Entwicklung der letzten 20 Jahre, Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik (PWP), 16/1, 3-25.
Schneider, F. (2015b), Size and Development oft he Shadow Economy of 31 European and 5 Other OECD Countries from 2003 to 2014: Different Developments?, Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics, 3(4), 7-29.
Source of the Data
GDP statistics: Eurostat: Main national accounts tax aggregats; GDP data; Brussels, accessed September 3, 2015.
Tax revenue statistics: OECD: OECD Revenue Statistics 1965-2013; GDP data; Paris, accessed September 3, 2015.
Shadow economy data: Schneider, F. (2015b), Size and Development oft he Shadow Economy of 31 European and 5 Other OECD Countries from 2003 to 2014: Different Developments?, Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics, 3(4), 7-29.
EUR/USD exchange rate for the year 2011, Austrian National Bank, ECB Reference Rates; Vienna, accessed December 3, 2015.
