ECIN Replication Package for "Does giving tax debtors a break improve compliance and income? Evidence from quasi-random assignment of IRS Revenue Officers"

This is data and code accompanying "Does giving tax debtors a break improve compliance and income? Evidence from quasi-random assignment of IRS Revenue Officers". Abstract: This paper uses the quasi-random assignment of IRS Revenue Officers to tax debtors' cases as an instrumental variable to identify the causal effects of suspending debt collection on tax compliance and future income. In contrast to uninstrumented estimates, we find no statistically significant evidence that putting off attempts to collect debt reduces compliance with future tax obligations or future reported income. Among marginal hardship cases, pausing collection instead increases future income, specifically wage earnings by the taxpayer's spouse. In addition, we address concerns about potential non-random assignment of Revenue Officers.

本数据集配套于论文《暂缓给予税债主体宽限能否提升税收合规性与收入？基于美国国税局（Internal Revenue Service，简称IRS）税务官员准随机分配的实证证据》，包含配套的数据与代码。摘要：本文以美国国税局（IRS）税务官员对税债主体案件的准随机分配作为工具变量，识别暂缓债务催收对税收合规性与未来收入的因果效应。与未采用工具变量的估计结果相比，我们未发现统计意义上显著的证据表明推迟债务催收尝试会降低纳税人未来的税收义务合规性或未来申报收入。在边际困难案件中，暂缓催收反而提升了未来收入，具体体现为纳税人配偶的工资性所得。此外，本文还针对税务官员分配可能存在的非随机性问题回应了相关质疑。