Findings of Moldovan-French survey on fiscal evasion unveiled in Chisinau

Chisinau, 18 February /MOLDPRES/ - The Expert-Grup Independent Analytical Centre today unveiled the findings of a survey on the fiscal evasion phenomenon in Moldova and measures to fight it based on behavioral approaches. The survey was worked out in partnership with Moldova’s Academy of Sciences (ASM) and the Experimental Economics Laboratory from Montpellier (France).       

The participants in the event presented a string of recommendations of policies for diminishing the fiscal evasion in Moldova. Also, they unveiled a comparative analysis of the results of the economic experiments carried out in Moldova and France, in order to point out the way the psychological factors staying behind the decisions taken by respondents differ.   

According to a programme manager of the Expert-Grup Independent Analytical Centre, Vadim Gumene, “although the proportions of the shadow economy decreased in Moldova from 34.6 per cent in 2000 to 20.6 percent in 2007, we, nevertheless, notice a worrying dynamic.” “And this given that this part of the unnoticed economy has a negative impact not only on the fiscal revenues, but also on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other macroeconomic indexes,” Vadim Gumene noted.   

To better understand the basic factors determining the fiscal evasion, Expert-Grup, in partnership with Moldova’s Academy of Economic Studies (ASEM) and the Montpellier-based Laboratory, organized a string of economic experiments in Moldova and France, with the participation of more than 500 people from both countries. The experiments’ findings show the fact that the fines and controls do not have an essential impact on combating the fiscal evasion. Instead, the state should focus on the promotion of the voluntary conformity through disseminating positive information on the taxation policy, which has proved to have a positive effect on the participants in the experiment.    

In general, the experiments combated the often evoked argument on the low fiscal morality in Moldova and the “national specific feature” in this respect. As compared to France, the people of Moldova are willing to observe the fiscal legislation, with the only condition being that the institutions are functional and legitimate. Therefore, in the long term, the public authorities should focus on the improvement of the institutions’ quality through enhancing the transparency in the allocation of public resources, implementation of instruments of collecting taking of decisions, in order to take into account the citizens’ preferences, as well as the reduction of corruption and promotion of integrity in the public space.  

“So far, the policies of combating the fiscal evasion have not taken into consideration, to a needed extent, the behavioral/psychological factors which explain people’s individual decisions. Therefore, we come up with a new prospect and an innovative analytical framework on the fiscal evasion phenomenon through explaining it from the behavioral viewpoint, based on economic experiments organized in Moldova for the first time ever. At the same time, the survey comes up with a string of recommendations of policies to this end,” the executive director of the Expert-Grup Independent Analytical Centre, Adrian Lupusor, said.