2019/05/31 by Annette Alstadsæter, Niels Johannesen, Gabriel Zucman · 574 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · Mathematics · #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Inequality #Economics #Tax evasion #Mathematical economics #Mathematics #Public economics #Mathematical analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.1257/aer.20172043
published in American Economic Review 109(6), 2073-2103 (American Economic Association)
openalex publication_date 2019/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Drawing on a unique dataset of leaked customer lists from offshore financial institutions matched to administrative wealth records in Scandinavia, we show that offshore tax evasion is highly concentrated among the rich. The skewed distribution of offshore wealth implies high rates of tax evasion at the top: we find that the 0.01 percent richest households evade about 25 percent of their taxes. By contrast, tax evasion detected in stratified random tax audits is less than 5 percent throughout the distribution. Top wealth shares increase substantially when accounting for unreported assets, highlighting the importance of factoring in tax evasion to properly measure inequality. (JEL D31, H24, H26, K34)