Financing Government in the Transition-Bulgaria : The Political Economy of Tax Policies, Tax Bases, and Tax Evasion Book

This publication is a product of collaboration between the Country Operations Division of the Europe and Central Asia Department One and the Transitional Economies Division of the Policy and Research Department in analyzing Bulgaria's experience with government finance reforms. Having experienced very large external shocks and large declines in the ratio of tax revenues to GDP, Bulgaria has attributes in common with many countries of the former Soviet Union. Papers in this volume cover a range of important reform issues which should be of interest to a broad audience of government officials, development practitioners and academics with interest in government finance in transitional economies. Tax base and revenue adequacy, the informal interface between private and state enterprises, and the financial transfers between households and the state are some of the issues which should be of particularly broad interest. A distinct contribution of this book is that it takes account of political economy factors and incentives that are often critical in explaining why specific policies and reforms are adopted or delayed. In this regard, it contains a myriad of useful implications on how to design or not to design and implement government finance reforms in the transition.