Late or unreliable refunds of credits undermine the best traits of Value-Added Tax (VAT) systems and might affect firms’ growth and investment opportunities. In this paper, we use administrative tax records in Honduras to study a tax reform that decreased the withholding rate of VAT liabilities by credit card providers, with the goal of curbing unrefunded credits. Using a differences-in-differences approach exploiting differential exposure to the reform, we document that it caused a decrease in excessive withholding and was equivalent to a cut in effective tax rates faced by treated firms. We then evaluate the effects on firms’ economic performance and estimate null effects on several indicators of economic growth and investment. Our results challenge the premise that unrefunded VAT credits are an important constraint to firm growth in certain settings.
Repository name | URI |
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Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Paper exhibits were reproduced in a computer with the following specifications:
– OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
– Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1145G7 CPU @ 2.60GHz
– Memory available: 15.7 GB
– Software version: Stata version 18.0 MP
~1 hour
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Author | Affiliation | |
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David Pineda Pinto | Utah State University | david.pineda@usu.edu |
Jose Carlo Bermúdez | World Bank | jcbermudez@uc.cl |
Thiago Scot | World Bank | tscot@worldbank.org |
2024-11
Location | Code |
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Honduras | HND |
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
Name | URI |
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Modified BSD3 | https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/ |
Name | Affiliation | |
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Jose Carlo Bermudez | World Bank | jcbermudez@uc.cl |
Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
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Reproducibility WBG | DIME | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
2024-10-30
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