The Tax Man Cometh - but is he Efficient?

Authors:

Førsund, Finn R., Sverre A.C. Kittelsen, Frode Lindseth, and Dag Fjeld Edvardsen

Year:

2006

Reference:

197: 106-119.

Summary

The performance of local tax offices of Norway is studied over a three-year period applying Data Envelopment Efficiency analysis and a Malmquist productivity index. The estimates are bias-corrected using a bootstrap approach recently developed for DEA models. The results show that bias correction and the construction of confidence intervals give a quite different picture without bootstrapping. A set of best practice offices is identified for future work on finding explanations for good performance. The productivity development of individual offices is classified into the four categories: productivity improving cost increase, productivity improving cost savings, productivity decreasing cost savings and productivity decreasing cost increase.

JEL:

C60, D24, L89

Keywords:

Tax office; Productivity; Efficiency; Scale efficiency; DEA; Bootstrap

Project:

Oppdragsgiver: Skattedirektoratet
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 2413 - Productivity studies in the Norwegian Tax Administration

Contact:

f.r.forsund@econ.uio.no

Financing:

Directorate of Taxes