Ballots & taxes : empirical studies on voting behavior and tax enforcement
BP2-STS
- Vila-Belda Montal, José ORCID Université de Fribourg
- Fribourg (Switzerland), 2025
1 ressource en ligne (242 pages) ; 1 fichier pdf
PhD: Université de Fribourg (Suisse), 15.12.2025
Vote
Référendum
Réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre
Impôts
Agriculture
Politique fiscale
Politique publique
Entreprises multinationales
Evasion fiscale
2001-2025
Suisse
Chili
English
This thesis explores the dual challenges of democratic governance: translating citizen preferences into policy and securing the tax revenue to fund them. Through empirical analysis, it highlights how institutional design and behavioral responses can lead to unintended consequences.
The first part of the research analyzes Swiss referendums, finding that specific policy themes like agriculture or gender alter the electorate's composition. Agricultural referendums boost rural and right-leaning turnout, suggesting that the strategic scheduling of votes can influence outcomes in unrelated concurrent policies.
The second part investigates Chile’s 2011 transfer pricing reform. The study reveals that despite increased reporting requirements and enforcement, multinational firms did not significantly increase tax payments. Instead, the reform sparked a surge in the tax advisory industry, shifting firm behavior toward more sophisticated tax planning rather than simple compliance. This is contextualized by a broader review of global collaborations with tax authorities, emphasizing how digitalization and third-party reporting are transforming enforcement capabilities.
Ultimately, the research demonstrates that implementation details are critical. Whether through shifting voter demographics or expanded tax avoidance strategies, the effectiveness of a policy depends heavily on how stakeholders strategically respond to its design. By understanding these mechanisms, policymakers can better improve democratic representation and state capacity.
The first part of the research analyzes Swiss referendums, finding that specific policy themes like agriculture or gender alter the electorate's composition. Agricultural referendums boost rural and right-leaning turnout, suggesting that the strategic scheduling of votes can influence outcomes in unrelated concurrent policies.
The second part investigates Chile’s 2011 transfer pricing reform. The study reveals that despite increased reporting requirements and enforcement, multinational firms did not significantly increase tax payments. Instead, the reform sparked a surge in the tax advisory industry, shifting firm behavior toward more sophisticated tax planning rather than simple compliance. This is contextualized by a broader review of global collaborations with tax authorities, emphasizing how digitalization and third-party reporting are transforming enforcement capabilities.
Ultimately, the research demonstrates that implementation details are critical. Whether through shifting voter demographics or expanded tax avoidance strategies, the effectiveness of a policy depends heavily on how stakeholders strategically respond to its design. By understanding these mechanisms, policymakers can better improve democratic representation and state capacity.
- Faculty
- Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales et du management
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Economics
- Notes
-
- Bibliographie
- License
-
CC BY
- Open access status
- diamond
- Identifiers
-
- SWISSCOVERY 991172955254905501
- DOI 10.51363/unifr.eth.2026.033
- URN urn:nbn:ch:rero-002-123848
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/335169
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