Chapter 2 The Effect of Taxation on
Informal Employment: Evidence from the Russian Flat Tax Reform" In Informal
Employment in Emerging and Transition Economies
ABSTRACT
The 2001 Russian tax reform reduced average tax rates for the personal
income tax and the payroll or social tax. It also made the tax structure
more regressive. Because individuals in the lower income bracket were for
the most part not affected, it is possible to estimate the effects of the
reform using a differences-in-differences approach. I study the effect of
the reform on informal employment. Informality is defined using
information on employment registration and self-employment. Applying
parametric and semi-parametric techniques, I find evidence that the tax
reform led to a significant reduction in the fraction of informal employees.
Among the different forms of informality I study, the reform seems to
have had the strongest effect on the prevalence of informal irregular
activities. I also document stronger effects on individuals who benefited
from the largest reductions in tax rates. The strong response to the tax
reform is consistent with the emerging consensus in the literature on