C EFFICIENCY RATIO AS A MEASURE OF VAT EFFICIENCY IN EU DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND SERBIA

Abstract

The policy led by a large number of developing countries, with the aim of increasing indirect taxes, has opened the issue of Value Added Tax (VAT) efficiency. Reforms of tax systems of developing countries generally involve an increase in standard rates in order to increase VAT, which is the main source of public revenues. In such a way, developing countries determine the VAT efficiency and the amount of revenue that could be collected by indirect taxation.
The article sums up works of different scientists, dealing with the impact of determinants on VAT efficiency. The subject of this paper is an analysis of the factors that influence the C efficiency ratio. The main objective of the paper is to analize the impact of the change in the standard rate on the ratio. Theoretical analyses of standard rates and other factors that have reflections on the VAT collection efficiency explicitly prove that there are different ways to improve the efficiency of VAT collection, and exclude an increase in the standard rate. An increase in the standard rate provides a balance of negative effects, which can be blurred by recorded tax revenues. We focused on the countries of the European Union: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania during the 2000-2016 period. These countries experienced significant changes in government during economic transformation, and where VAT is the main source of public revenues. The last section analize an increse in VAT rate and C efficiency ratio in Serbia and conteins conclusions.
The paper indicates the imperfection of inadequately defined VAT rates on economic growth and development in analized countries. Based on analyses we can conclude that the increase in the standard rate have negative reflections on the VAT efficiency, and that it was one of the factors of the continuous decline in C-efficiency.