Estimating the Impact of Labor on Tax Revenue: Evidence from Indonesia

Last registered on June 06, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Estimating the Impact of Labor on Tax Revenue: Evidence from Indonesia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009522
Initial registration date
May 31, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 06, 2022, 5:48 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Rema Hanna
Affiliation
Harvard University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
M. Chatib Basri
PI Affiliation
Universitas Indonesia
PI Name
Benjamin Olken
PI Affiliation
MIT
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PI Name
Claire Walsh
PI Affiliation
J-PAL, Oxford
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-11-22
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
Bureaucracy, Taxation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
There has been extensive research on setting optimal tax rates but there is little research on the impacts of improving tax administration. This project investigates the effects of tax administration on tax collection in Indonesia through multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The studies will estimate the tax administration production function by measuring the impact of exogenous capital and labor shocks on tax revenue and compliance in a national sample of tax offices, and investigate how complex organizations respond to improvements in resources. The studies are being conducted in close partnership with the Indonesian government, which is implementing the three interventions as part of their regular operations. The purpose of the this RCT is to estimate the impact of the government providing an exogenous increase in tax office labor (providing each office with between 2-5 additional tax officers for two years) on tax revenue and compliance in 83 randomly assigned tax offices out of a sample of 170 tax offices across Indonesia.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Basri, M. Chatib et al. 2022. "Estimating the Impact of Labor on Tax Revenue: Evidence from Indonesia." AEA RCT Registry. June 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9522-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-10-01
Intervention End Date
2021-11-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• Tax revenue and log tax revenue
• Tax officer monitoring and compliance activities (e.g. tax officer effort, letters sent, visits conducted, enforcement actions and outcomes)
• Number of Account Representatives and employees per tax office
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
• Taxpayer compliance (e.g. timely filing and payment)
• Number of taxpayers per office and tax officer
• Tax revenue targets by office and tax officer
• Tax officer rotations between and within offices, performance review scores, promotions, and departures
• Tax officer job satisfaction, work activities, perceptions about taxation and tax office resources
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Out of a sample of 170 tax offices, tax offices were randomized within 83 pairs and triplets to the treatment or control group.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Tax office
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
170 tax offices
Sample size: planned number of observations
170 tax offices
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
83 tax offices treatment, 87 tax offices control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MIT COUHES
IRB Approval Date
2018-09-27
IRB Approval Number
1805377752
IRB Name
Harvard CUHS
IRB Approval Date
2018-07-12
IRB Approval Number
IRB18-1072
IRB Name
Harvard CUHS
IRB Approval Date
2021-03-16
IRB Approval Number
IRB19-1880
IRB Name
MIT COUHES
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-09
IRB Approval Number
1810535140
Analysis Plan

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