The effect of fiscal corruption on economic development and sustainability in developing economies: the case of Nigeria Online publication date: Fri, 28-Feb-2014
by Olatunde Julius Otusanya; Solabomi Omobola Ajibolade; Emmanuel Kayode Akerele
African J. of Economic and Sustainable Development (AJESD), Vol. 2, No. 4, 2013
Abstract: Fiscal corruption refers to calculative actions and decisions of individuals and corporate bodies which inhibit economic development and sustainability in developing economies. As a consequence, addressing fiscal corruption and related anti-social tax practices have become integrated part of tax reform in recent years aimed at redesigning the tax structure and improving tax administration. This paper uses rational choice theory to explore the choice to break rules from the perspective of individual actor incentives and calculations. Evidence shows that through illegal and fiscal corrupt schemes, tax officials and corporate and individual taxpayers are major actors in depriving the Government of Nigeria and governments of a number of developing countries of huge revenues. This has a detrimental impact on the development and revenue sustainability in Nigeria. The paper therefore argues for radical reform in order to reduce the opportunities for corruption in tax administration and to change the incentive structures for tax officers while keeping tax policies simple.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the African J. of Economic and Sustainable Development (AJESD):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com