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In this paper, we analyze the effect of nontariff measures (NTMs) on upgrading food product quality. Based on a multisector Schumpeterian model--and given threat of entry, compliance costs, and monopoly profits--NTMs are predicted to have heterogeneous effects on quality upgrading. Using disaggregated data for 14 European Union (EU) countries across 18 food industries for the period 2008-2019, NTM enforcement is found to deter quality upgrading for products distant from the quality frontier due to compliance costs. Conversely, NTM enforcement stimulates quality upgrading for products close to the quality frontier, given an increased probability of capturing monopoly profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Crónica Tributaria is the property of Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, Ministerio de Hacienda y Funcion Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

When farmers implement GlobalGAP they incur specific input costs that arise from quality requirements of the technology. However, due to the difficultly in observing and measuring food quality, previous empirical studies seldom analysed the relationship between quality improvements in food production and total costs of production. They assumed that product quality itself was exogenous and hence had no effect on productive efficiency or cost of production. This study estimates the impact of GlobalGAP on costs of production while accounting for fixed cost improvements and quality endogeneity. Data were obtained from GlobalGAP-certified small-scale pineapple farmers in Ghana. The hypothesis that product quality was exogenous was tested and rejected. Consequently, a quality-adjusted translog cost function was used to identify the main contributors to cost increases on small-scale GlobalGAP-certified pineapple farms. The estimated function exhibited economies of size, implying that most small-scale adopters are unable to increase output and benefit from lower average costs. Production costs arising from improvements in quality imposed by GlobalGAP are most sensitive to changes in plantlet price, followed by wages, agrochemical price and expenditure on capital items. Smaller small-scale farmers are much more sensitive to increases in capital expenditure than are larger small-scale farmers. Key policy recommendations include joint ventures to increase nursery capacity and competition in the market for plantlets, scrutiny of mandatory fees impacting the cost of imported labour-saving inputs, facilitating sharing arrangements between smallholders to lower the cost of on-farm infrastructure, and research to identify constraints preventing certified farmers from exploiting size economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Artificial intelligence (AI) brings great potential but also risks to the electricity industry. Following the EU's current regulatory proposal, the EU Regulation for Artificial Intelligence (AI Act), there will be direct, potentially adverse effects on companies of the electricity industry in Europe and beyond, as well as those active in the development of AI systems. In this paper, we develop a replicable framework for estimating compliance costs for different electricity market agents that will need to comply with the numerous requirements the AI Act imposes. The electricity systems of Austria, Greece and Switzerland are used as case-studies. We estimate annual, aggregated costs for electricity market agents ranging from less than one million to almost 200 million Euros per country, depending on compliance costs scenarios. Results suggest that a profit growth of 10% through AI utilization is needed to offset the highest added compliance cost of the AI Act on electricity market agents. Eventually, we further show how to assess the regional differences of these costs added to system operation, providing spatially disaggregated compliance costs estimates that consider the structural differences of the electricity industry within 26 Swiss cantons.

From the perspective of ISO14001 certification, we explored the impact of environmental protection tax on enterprises' long-term environmental practice decisions based on the differential-in-difference model. Our results show that environmental protection tax reform can promote enterprise ISO14001 certification behavior. This positive effect comes from increased enforcement intensity and compliance costs. When the external supervision and governance environment of enterprises is better (i.e., higher degree of marketization and media attention), the shock of environmental tax reform on enterprises' ISO14001 certification behavior is more significant. Heterogeneity analysis found that the promotion of environmental protection fees-to-tax conversion to ISO14001 certification behavior of enterprises is mainly reflected in non-state-owned key enterprises, small-scale enterprises, and high financing constraints enterprises. Economic consequences test shows that environmental tax policy can improve the green innovation of enterprises in the current and subsequent years, but it does not improve the financial performance in the short term. Our study provides supporting evidence to identify whether environmental tax is a long-term mechanism to promote voluntary environmental management by enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ex ante cost analysis of its 1995 Large Municipal Waste Combustor (MWC): New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines rule to an ex post assessment of its cost. Unlike many retrospective cost analyses, where ex post assessments are limited due to lack of data on compliance costs, this case study is unique because we located and used plant-level survey data from the U.S. Department of Energy and Governmental Advisory Associates in a comparison of ex ante and ex post costs of individual MWCs. We find the ex post capital expenditures for nitrogen oxide control systems are typically lower than the EPA ex ante estimates, while the ex post capital expenditures for mercury control systems tend to be higher than the EPA ex ante estimates. Finally, while we find a few outliers, the average ratio of ex post to ex ante capital expenditures for particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emissions control is near unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and, as the center of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, the economy and production throughout Hubei Province suffered huge temporary impacts. Based on the input–output and industrial pollution emissions data of 33 industrial industries in Hubei from 2010 to 2019, this article uses the non-parametric frontier analysis method to calculate the potential production losses and compliance costs caused by environmental regulations in Hubei's industrial sector by year and industry. Research has found that the environmental technology efficiency of the industrial sector in Hubei is showing a trend of increasing year-on-year, but the overall efficiency level is still not high, and there is great room for improvement. The calculation results with and without environmental regulatory constraints indicate that, generally, production losses and compliance costs may be encountered in the industrial sector in Hubei, and there are significant differences by industry. The potential production losses and compliance costs in pollution-intensive industries are higher than those in clean production industries. On this basis, we propose relevant policy recommendations to improve the technological efficiency of Hubei's industrial environment, in order to promote the high-quality development of Hubei's industry in the post-epidemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the contribution of participation costs (floatation costs, compliance costs and marketing costs) to stock market participation using evidence from Uganda—a developing country. Using a cross-sectional and correlational research design, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 219 small and medium enterprises. We used correlation coefficients and linear regression to test our hypotheses. The hierarchical regression analysis results suggest that participation costs such as floatation costs, compliance costs, and marketing costs are significant predictors of stock market participation while firm age and firm size (control variables) are non-significant. The study uses a cross-sectional research design. The major weakness with cross-sectional research designs is that, it is difficult to monitor changes in behavior over time. To the practitioners and policymakers, this study suggests that the Ugandan Capital Market Authority should review the costs (floatation costs, compliance costs, and marketing costs) involved in accessing finance through the stock exchange. This will go a long way in making the stock market an alternative financing option, especially in this era of rising costs of capital provided by other financial intermediaries. The study examines the behavior of the elements of participation costs in explaining stock market participation, an aspect that has not been adequately highlighted in previous studies. Results indicate that among elements of participation costs, floatation costs are more significant, followed by compliance costs. Market costs turnout to be the least participation cost in explaining stock market participation.

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Business cultural diversity is particularly important in the Banking sector. Using 2002 to 2018 data from 516 banks across the globe, this study provides evidence–both board diversity and workforce diversity have a significant negative relationship with ethics compliance costs, implying that enhancing diversity in the board room and employee workforce improves the ethical performance of banks. And, the results show a significant positive relationship between diversity compliance costs and ethics compliance costs. We further demonstrate a significant inverse U‐shape between diversity in the workforce and costs of business unethical behavior in the banking sector. The results remain statistically and quantitatively unchanged from further robustness tests and endogeneity estimates. Overall, this paper sheds light and highlights the important role of diversity in shaping banks' ethics activities and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Transfer pricing has largely been viewed in the context of crossborder transactions of multinational enterprises. Zimbabwe recently revised its transfer pricing rules to include domestic transactions. This study sought to explore the challenges and implications of transfer pricing legislation for SMEs. Methodology: A qualitative inquiry is applied with the use of in-depth interviews and a questionnaire survey. Thematic analysis was used to analyse both interview and questionnaire data. Findings: The findings revealed that the paradox of observing fairness as a canon of taxation by equally taxing domestic and cross-border transactions has both economic and social implications for the Zimbabwean economy. It was evident that SMEs find themselves unduly burdened with compliance costs, capacity limitations as well as knowledge constraints in complying with the rules. Originality or Value: The implications of transfer pricing rules on SMEs have not been explored in the Zimbabwean context. The study explores a critical sector that has often been neglected in the transfer pricing discourse. It recommends that the government revisit the applicability of domestic transfer pricing legislation to SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An explosion of different preferential rules of origin (PROO) has accompanied the spread of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) around the world. Complying with PROO requirements entail costs for producers, exporters, and customs officials. Observers, firms, customs officials, and policymakers have advocated simplification as well as harmonization. The paper surveys the literature drawing on the extensive database in ITC's Rules of Origin Facilitator (ROF) database covering 54,000 distinct PROO spread across 370 PTAs to illustrate the issues covered in the literature. We review what we know about the compliance costs associated with PROO requirements. We illustrate these costs graphically and summarize through mathematical decomposition of compliance costs along two dimensions: distortionary costs resulting from the restrictiveness of PROOs and administrative costs. We survey the existing evidence in literature by themes: (i) determinants of the utilisation of preferences; (ii) effects on third countries outside the PTA; (iii) choice of rule; (iv) preference margin and complexity of rules; (v) trade deflection; and (vi) firm-level evidence. In conclusion, drawing lessons from the empirical literature is a complicated exercise because preference uptake, an important indicator of compliance costs, is only available for a handful of PTAs at the disaggregated product level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Poznanskiej. Organizacja & Zarzadzanie is the property of Poznan University of Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Developing countries often rely on consumption taxes, because these are broad, easy to administer, and harder to evade. However, the taxation system becomes inherently regressive. To counter this problem of the regressive nature of consumption taxes, there is a temptation among policymakers to address equity concerns through a multiplicity of rates, making the consumption tax system complex. Here, complexity is considered the by-product, or companion, to pursuing goals of equity. Complex tax systems, however, pose a different problem relating to equity. Assuming a minimum fixed cost of compliance imposed by a complex tax system, smaller firms and individuals face a much higher cost of compliance relative to larger firms and richer individuals. Oligarchic sectors dominated by a few large firms also find it easier to organize and lobby to get favorable rates compared to competitive sectors with small firms. Though complexity is considered a by-product of several equity-enhancing measures, the Indian experience with its Goods and Services Tax reform serves demonstrates the opposite, that there is a trade-off between equity and complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The standard approach to evaluate the Laffer curve of personal income taxation focuses on the impact on income tax revenue alone. However, this is an incomplete depiction of reality, as income tax rate changes also affect revenue collection from other taxes -i.e. consumption taxes and social security contributions. In addition, to the extent that administration and compliance costs correlate with tax rates, the Laffer curve should also consider this correlation. This paper develops a complete microeconomic model for the Laffer curve of personal income tax, taking into account all these omissions. Results confirm that these omissions generate the false illusion of a Laffer curve with a higher-than-real revenue maximum and a narrower prohibitive zone than exists in reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del ICDT is the property of Instituto Colombiano de Derecho Tributario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between knowledge requirements, complexity of the tax system and tax compliance in Uganda while exploring the indirect effects of compliance costs. The research design was cross sectional and correlational using VAT registered withholding agents. This study results suggest that knowledge requirements do not have a significant relationship with compliance costs. Knowledge requirements are best suited in explaining the internal costs of compliance than external costs. Our results indicated that taxpayers have sufficient tax knowledge to enable them comply with taxes but that does not rule out the fact that taxpayers still incur the cost of complying. When the system of taxation becomes more complex, then the cost of complying also becomes high. The complex tax systems require taxpayers to obtain extra training as well as seeking external professional advice in order to comply. Therefore, that tax complexity has a direct and indirect impact (through compliance costs) on tax compliance. Rather than focusing only on the importance of the normal analytical deliberation of knowledge requirements and tax complexity by taxpayers in influencing their tax compliance, the current paper shows that in addition, the indirect effect of compliance costs in establishing the basis for understanding taxpayers’ compliance. Methodologically, this study solicits responses from taxpayers who are deemed to be tax compliant and have been designated to withhold VAT (which is one of the biggest indirect taxes collected in Uganda) in addition to paying income taxes. This probably offers a unique way of deriving better results than previous studies which have basically concentrated on just taxpayers regardless of whether they are presumed compliant or not.

Purpose - This article aims to examine the complexity of the value added tax (VAT) in Germany and Poland. Research method - This paper uses a quantitative analysis of the VAT Act and a selected amendment to this Act in Germany and Poland. I consider the German and Polish language versions of the VAT Directive and the Vouchers Directive as a benchmark for comparing VAT complexity. A comparison of a number of law amendments and compliance costs in both countries enhances the analysis. Results - The VAT complexity in Poland significantly exceeds the complexity of the German VAT system. This is true for all analysed aspects. In Poland, the compliance costs of VAT are significantly higher than in Germany. The Polish VAT law is amended more frequently and is much more comprehensive than its German counterpart. This can be only partially justified by special regulations to combat tax fraud. The high VAT complexity in Poland is also due to the complicated language and structure of the law. Although the German translation of the Vouchers Directive includes more words than the Polish version, the Polish legislator needs about twice as many words as their German counterpart for its implementation. Originality/value - Tax law is often criticised for its complexity. This study is the first to use the VAT Directive for a comparative study of the VAT complexity and reveals that the Polish legislator uses considerably more text for similar content than their German counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, Zimbabwe made a milestone in implementing ‘ease of doing business’ measures, by introducing the electronic tax filing system. The study employed a content analysis methodology in assessing the effectiveness of ZIMRA’s electronic services platform in inducing tax compliance in Zimbabwe. Information was gathered from a wide range of reliable and published sources such as books, journal articles, national budget statements, ZIMRA revenue performance reports and newspapers. Evidence gathered revealed that the electronic services platform has been helpful and much instrumental in reducing taxpayer compliance costs, thereby ameliorating overall compliance. However, the study overtly shows that the electronic services platform has not been a perfect panacea and many loopholes exist. The study therefore proffered a number of recommendations which include, but not limited to system upgrade, activating the payment gateway, taxpayer education, substantial tax reforms as well as infrastructural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Program take-up is a necessary condition for program effectiveness. Yet, non-take-up is a significant challenge for many social programs, including Québec's Supplement to the Work Premium (SWP), a refundable tax credit targeted toward long-term welfare clients. Based on interviews with 21 public actors and 46 program participants and nonparticipants, this study explains how low program awareness, the low value of the benefit and the significant administrative burden borne by potential and actual participants contribute to the non-take-up of the SWP in this sample. Moreover, four policy implications and recommendations that can inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of social programs, are derived from this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Malaysian Goods and Services Tax ('GST') was implemented in April 2015 to replace the Sales and Services Tax ('SST'), as part of the Malaysian tax reform, which was aimed at reducing the country's budget deficit by improving its revenue collection system. This study is part of a major project that investigated the start-up compliance costs of GST for Malaysian business taxpayers. Sixty-eight questionnaires were received from businesses that were registered for GST. This research applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour model to investigate business taxpayers' attitudes towards the Malaysian GST and its potential managerial benefits. A five-point Likert attitude scale was employed to measure the attitudes of businesses towards the introduction of the GST in Malaysia. Prior studies report that Malaysian business enterprises incurred high mean gross GST start-up compliance costs. The findings of this investigation confirm that there is a direct relationship between business attitudes towards GST compliance and start-up compliance costs. Overall, respondents strongly disagreed with the statement 'I do not mind doing GST work'. Further, those who indicated that GST is unreasonably complicated, reported higher average GST start-up compliance costs. Counter-intuitively, businesses that supported the government's tax reform also incurred higher average GST start-up compliance costs. This study found that some businesses derived managerial benefits from complying with the GST. The managerial benefits include improved accounting information systems, improved controls to prevent theft and fraud, as well as savings in accounting costs by using internal staff to maintain records. Surprisingly, businesses that expected to derive managerial benefits incurred higher costs than those who did not expect to receive such benefits. This paper concludes with some policy implications for Malaysia and possibly for other countries yet to introduce a GST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost-management is essential and highly specific sphere, which requires applying adequate decision- making approach as a part of the bank’s internal value creation process. Correspondent banking is a dynamically growing area of management and controlling methods applied in banks on the one hand and high risk financial segment of the regulators’ measures and expectations around the world on the other. The purpose of this research is to outline the main challenges for cost-management development in correspondent banking relationships (CBRs) around the world with recommendations for Ukraine. The paper explains the key reasons and essential components of cost-management system for managing risks and costs in CBRs based on the analytical results of transactions volume, comparing drivers of restriction of CBRs, rapidly growing number of different types of compliance and operational costs. As a result, the study highlights the cost-cutting measures based on digital assets solutions and blockchain technologies that can help banks to eliminate and lower costs of customer on-boarding, due diligence and money laundering prevention, foreign exchange and currency hedging, treasury and payment operations, liquidity and capital raising.

Provisions of the Dodd–Frank Act increase the transparency of real estate transactions between financial institutions and consumers. The Act imposes substantial compliance costs on all financial institutions. In non-metro areas, cooperative lenders may be the only source of real estate loan products. In this study, we investigate whether compliance with the Act has caused some cooperative financial institutions to bear heavier compliance burdens than others and to deduce the subsequent consequences for consolidation and corporate governance. Using a dataset of non-metro credit unions and all agricultural credit associations, we observe that compliance costs have decreased cooperative financial institution financial performance and likely caused the exit or failure to enter smaller institutions. Cooperative financial institutions have redistributed control and operations management instead of wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Costs to permit Marine Energy projects are poorly understood. In this paper we examine environmental compliance and permitting costs for 19 projects in the U.S., covering the last 2 decades. Guided discussions were conducted with developers over a 3-year period to obtain historical and ongoing project cost data relative to environmental studies (e.g., baseline or pre-project site characterization as well as post-installation effects monitoring), stakeholder outreach, and mitigation, as well as qualitative experience of the permitting process. Data are organized in categories of technology type, permitted capacity, pre- and post-installation, geographic location, and funding types. We also compare our findings with earlier logic models created for the Department of Energy (i.e., Reference Models). Environmental studies most commonly performed were for Fish and Fisheries, Noise, Marine Habitat/Benthic Studies and Marine Mammals. Studies for tidal projects were more expensive than those performed for wave projects and the range of reported project costs tended to be wider than ranges predicted by logic models. For eight projects reporting full project costs, from project start to FERC or USACE permit, the average amount for environmental permitting compliance was 14.6%.

Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an increasingly popular, but debated, management strategy to conserve marine biodiversity and ensure sustainable human use of the oceans. Economic studies can contribute to the debate about MPAs as a management option by evaluating their benefits and costs to society. In this paper, we outline how to evaluate the economic benefits and costs of MPAs and provide examples from the literature to demonstrate the methods described. We review challenges and opportunities of different economic methods. One key challenge is to meaningfully compare market and non‐market benefits of MPAs—this comparison is complicated by the scarcity of studies that quantify the non‐market benefits of MPAs. Another key challenge is to quantify how the value of marine areas may change with and without MPAs. Costs are often easier to estimate than benefits, but some costs—such as maintenance and compliance costs—are rarely recognized. Analytical choices will influence the identified economic costs and benefits of MPAs. For example, the spatial extent of analyses will influence what changes in underlying ecological processes are captured and conclusions about the equitable distribution of costs and benefits across society. For these reasons, it is important that managers are aware of the challenges and opportunities described here, so that they can obtain and use the best‐quality economic information to guide decision making about MPAs.

The literature on Effective Tax Rates (ETRs) focuses on high‐ and middle‐income countries, but there is very little evidence on low‐income countries. This article addresses this gap with new evidence from Ethiopia. We investigate corporate ETRs in Ethiopia and whether the distributional effects they have in practice are in line with the corporate tax policy design. We calculate ETRs in line with the literature in this field, using profit tax at the numerator and gross profit at the denominator. We then analyse ETRs not only using panel data, focusing particularly on their relation to firm size, but also including other explanatory variables. Our main result is that, despite a proportional tax rate, small firms face a higher effective tax burden than larger firms, while middle‐sized firms face the lowest burden of all. We highlight that tax systems can have practical implications that differ largely from their policy design, due to compliance costs and imperfect enforcement. Measures to reduce compliance costs for small firms are particularly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of environmental product standards on environment and firm locations in an NEG (New Economic Geography) framework. Introducing unilateral environmental product standards and consumption externalities into a footloose capital model, we find that their effect depends on the degree of compliance of the standards and trade cost. Environmental product standards could reduce firm share and emissions in a regulated region when most firms comply with them. When the standards are not widely complied with, their effect depends on trade cost. It is possible that the unilateral standards raise the number of firms in a regulated region and worsen the environment in that region when trade cost is sufficiently small. These results could be useful for evaluating the implementation of environmental product standards as an environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is an original study of the taxpayer attitudes, compliance benefits perceptions and compliance costs of the value added tax (VAT) system in Botswana. In 2009/10 and 2010/11, 600 and 100 businesses, respectively, were surveyed. Respondents were presented with attitudinal statements and asked to express their attitudes and benefits perceptions concerning VAT, using a questionnaire that utilised a five-point Likert scale. Internal consistent reliability of responses to the attitudinal statements is measured using Cronbach's alpha, while responses are analysed using SPSS software. The findings suggest that businesses in Botswana find VAT requirements to be burdensome and VAT compliance costs high. Further investigation reveals that the businesses that find VAT to be burdensome have higher VAT compliance costs. The respondents who perceive the VAT system to be unreasonably complicated report higher average VAT compliance costs. However, these costs are mitigated by the benefits that accrue to taxpayers in the form of improved record keeping, as indicated by 69 per cent of the respondents. The study concludes with policy implications for government, business taxpayers and researchers. This study is significant as it is original and also contributes to the scarce literature on taxpayer attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]