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Tackling The Illegal Practice Of Under-Reporting Employees’ Wages: Lessons From The Republic Of Macedonia
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Tackling The Illegal Practice Of Under-Reporting Employees’ Wages: Lessons From The Republic Of Macedonia

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  • C. Williams, Colin

    (Sheffield University Management School (SUMS), University of Sheffield, Sheffield)

  • Bezeredi, Slavko

    (Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb)

Abstract

Recently, there has been growing recognition that some formal employees receive from their formal employers two wages, namely an official declared wage plus an additional undeclared (envelope) wage, which reduces the tax and social contributions paid to the authorities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate two competing approaches for tackling this illegal practice, namely a conventional rational economic actor deterrence approach which increases the penalties and risks of detection, and an emergent social actor approach that seeks to improve tax morale. To do this, a 2015 nationally representative survey comprising 2,014 face-to-face interviews conducted in FYR of Macedonia is reported. The finding is that 13 per cent of employees surveyed received under-reported wages by an amount that averaged 39 per cent of their net salary, and that in just under half (46 per cent) of reported cases, employees are active instigators of such a wage arrangement. Logit regression analysis reveals no association between employees receiving under-reported wages and the perceived level of penalties and risk of detection, but a strong association with the level of tax morale. The theoretical and policy implications are then discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Williams, Colin & Bezeredi, Slavko, 2017. "Tackling The Illegal Practice Of Under-Reporting Employees’ Wages: Lessons From The Republic Of Macedonia," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 8(3), pages 243-258.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:utmsje:0218
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ioana Alexandra Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Rodica Ianole-Cãlin & Adrian V. Horodnic, 2023. "Exploring the illegal practice of under-reporting wages in the construction industry: some lessons from Romania," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(26), pages 2978-2992, June.
    2. Josip FRANIC, 2020. "Why workers engage in quasi-formal employment? Some lessons from Croatia," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 94-112, December.
    3. Josip Franić, 2019. "Explaining workers’ role in illegitimate wage underreporting practice: Evidence from the European Union," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(3), pages 366-381, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    envelope wages; tax morale; informal economy; tax evasion; Southeast Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • P37 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Legal

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