Title: Technical and allocative efficiency of tax offices: a case study

Authors: Carlos Pestana Barros

Addresses: Instituto de Economia e Gestao, Technical University of Lisbon, Rua Miguel Lupi, 20, Lisbon 1249-078, Portugal

Abstract: This paper analyses the technical and Allocative Efficiency (AE) of tax offices, that is, the offices which deal with declarations, assessments, collection and disputed tax demands of individuals and companies at a local level, using data from offices in central and greater Lisbon. The objective of this paper is to study the technical and AE of Lisbon|s tax offices in order to establish how far the Portuguese Government|s policy is achieving its aims. We find that the results are, at best, mixed, leading us to conclude that the incentive regulation carried out by the Government|s regulatory body, the Central Tax Authority (CTA), falls short of achieving its stated aims. Therefore, we propose a policy revision to enforce efficiency based on a governance environment framework.

Keywords: tax offices; efficiency; data envelopment analysis; DEA; Portugal; public policy; public sector; performance management; incentive regulation; governance environment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPSPM.2007.013838

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2007 Vol.1 No.1, pp.41 - 61

Published online: 30 May 2007 *

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