Measuring the Tax Gap in the European Economy

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to reveal the methodology used to examine the tax gap and calculate the tax gap for all EU states over 2011-2014. The paper draws on the review of reference literature addressing the tax gap in the context of tax avoidance and tax evasion. The paper features the GDP size across countries so as to demonstrate the overall level of the shadow economy compared to the aggregate tax burden. Finally, for the first time, the calculations of the tax gap for all EU states over 2011-2014 were displayed.

Keywords

• Tax avoidance
• Grey zone
• State budget
• Tax gap