Public good provision and property tax compliance: Evidence from a natural experiment

Abstract

Positive inducements and rewards have become a popular tool of tax administrations around the world. Yet, evaluation of the impact of rewards has been mostly absent from the empirical literature on tax compliance. In this paper we evaluate the effect of positive rewards on property tax compliance by exploiting a natural experiment in which a municipality of Argentina randomly selected 400 individuals among more than 72,000 taxpayers who had complied with the payment of their property tax. These individuals were publicly recognized and awarded the construction of a sidewalk. Results indicate that: (i) few additional taxpayers pay delinquent bills in order to participate; (ii) winning the lottery has large positive and persistent effects; (iii) there are sizable spillover effects, as neighbors of lottery winners increase their overall compliance. Providing a durable and visible public good seems to bring lasting positive effects on tax compliance.