[bad_user]

> Tax rate and tax evasion aren't really linked. It's about culture and enforcement

And how does that culture happen? Do you think people just get up one morning and decide to do tax evasion?

Of course they are linked - especially in countries in which the private sector is underrepresented and overwhelmed compared to the retired, the unemployed and the ones in the public sector, all of them assisted socially.

In a country in which 60-70% of a company's revenue goes to taxes, such that the government can deliver their electoral alms, it's not so much about bringing in the dough, but more about surviving for one more year with food on the table.

[tormeh]

>And how does that culture happen? Do you think people just get up one morning and decide to do tax evasion?

No, they get brought up by their parents to do it, usually. The justification is that the government will just waste it anyway, which can be true. Of course, the culture that breeds tax evasion is the same one that breeds poor government. Happily I don't have to deal with it.

[laurencerowe]

The correlation is almost the exact opposite: https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_431.html

It's cultural, tax evasion is higher in countries which were recently dicatatorships (Spain, Portugal, Greece) or never developed a strong central government (Italy.)