Informal Taxation in Myanmar: Equity, Efficiency and Tax Morale.

发展中国家的公共收入动员受到各种经济和行政限制的阻碍，导致财政收益低，基本公共产品和服务供应不足。然而，正式税收只是家庭为公共支出提供资金的手段之一。在世界上一些国家，社区已经建立了一些旨在资助发展项目的机构。缅甸就是一个很好的例子，非国家组织和宗教组织筹集的发展资金远远超过税收收入。此外，非国家行为体和地方当局参与不同形式的谈判，以获得补充的公共资金。这在道路建设方面尤其明显，道路建设主要由社区主导，但在乡镇的记录中有详尽的细节。这些机构的运作在很大程度上尚未得到探索，但它们既与政策有关，又具有研究价值。首先，了解社区如何在没有执法的情况下实现如此高水平的收入动员，将为税收工具的设计提供信息，并阐明税收合规的行为决定因素。此外，非正式税收和社区主导的发展可以被视为在设计财政和支出分配时经常被忽视的一种权力下放形式。从这个角度来看，值得研究的是，这些机制是否可以用来收集财政当局无法获得的收入，例如在农业和非正规部门，并确保公共支出反映社区的偏好。回答这些问题需要对非正式税收的有效性和公平性以及社区决策进行严格的分析。

Public revenue mobilisation in developing countries is hampered by a wide range of economic and administrative constraints, resulting in low fiscal yields and the under provision of essential public goods and services. Formal taxation, however, is only one of the instruments through which households finance public expenditure. In several countries across the world, communities have developed a number of institutions designed to finance development projects. Myanmar is a fascinating example, with non-state and religious organizations mobilizing development funds that significantly exceed tax revenues. In addition, non-state actors and local authorities engage in different forms of bargaining to secure complementary public funds. This is especially evident for road building, which is mostly community-led but thoroughly detailed within townships' records.The functioning of these institutions, which has been largely unexplored, is both policy relevant and of research interest. First and foremost, understanding how communities achieve such high levels of revenue mobilisation without legal enforcement will inform the design of tax instruments and shed light on the behavioural determinants of tax compliance. Moreover, informal taxation and community-led development can be seen as a form of decentralisation that is often ignored when designing fiscal and expenditure assignments. From this perspective, it is worth investigating whether these mechanisms can be leveraged to collect revenues that will otherwise elude fiscal authorities, for example in the agricultural and informal sector, and ensure that public expenditure reflects communities' preferences. Answering these questions requires a rigorous analysis of the effectiveness and fairness of informal taxation, as well as community decision-making.