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The Tax Man Cometh - but is he Efficient?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Finn R Førsund ,
Sverre A.C. Kittelsen ,
Fode Lindseth  and
Dag Fjeld Edvaedsen
Finn R Førsund*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Oslo and the Frisch Centre
Sverre A.C. Kittelsen
Affiliation:
The Frisch Centre
Fode Lindseth
Affiliation:
The Norwegian Directorate of Taxes
Dag Fjeld Edvaedsen
Affiliation:
The Norwegian Building Research Institute
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The performance of local tax offices of Norway is studied over a three-year period applying Data Envelopment Efficiency analysis and a Malmquist productivity index. The estimates are bias-corrected using a bootstrap approach recently developed for DEA models. The results show that bias correction and the construction of confidence intervals give a quite different picture without bootstrapping. A set of best practice offices is identified for future work on finding explanations for good performance. The productivity development of individual offices is classified into the four categories: productivity improving cost increase, productivity improving cost savings, productivity decreasing cost savings and productivity decreasing cost increase.

Keywords

Tax officeProductivityEfficiencyScale efficiencyDEABootstrapC60D24L89
Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 197 , 01 July 2006 , pp. 106 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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