PurposeThis paper aims to use an econometric model to estimate tax evasion from the size of the underground economy and examined the factors that trigger it.Design/methodology/approachThe study used time series data sourced from world development indicators and Bank of Ghana covering the period 1990-2015 to estimate tax evasion from the underground economy using an autoregressive distributed lag model drawing on the currency demand approach.FindingsThe results confirmed the existence of a large underground economy and a high incidence of tax evasion in Ghana. The Ghanaian situation has been aggravated by an underground economy-triggering factor of mobile money activities, which increased by 83.1 per cent in 2015. Tax evasion averaged 20.78 per cent of GDP over the period. The study, thus, concludes that the increased number of mobile money activities, high tax burden and unemployment contribute to the worsening of the tax evasion problem in Ghana.Originality/valueThe study is one of the premier attempts to introduce electricity power consumption variables in the currency demand model to estimate tax evasion from the size of the underground economy. The authors hypothesize that the emergence of mobile money activities in its current form triggers underground and tax-evading activities. The study, thus, calls for the formalization and regulation of the operations of mobile money activities in emerging economies as a way of managing the underground economy, which incubates tax evasion.
The budget has been and continues to be a tool for effectuating fiscal policy goals of governments worldwide. The case of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana is no exception. The arguments in support of systematised budgeting and budgetary control regimes in the public sector of economies, both developed and developing are overwhelmingly persuasive. The aforementioned arguments have been normalised in practice and application to the extent of being unfairly characterised as ritualistic in some cases. Interestingly however, inherent in the ritualistic nature of budgets are useful opportunities for leveraging on the strengths of budgeting and budgetary control for effective service delivery for value-for-money and value-for-many. Polemic evidence suggests that health service delivery remains a major challenge to many economies of the world, especially those of the developing world. This qualitative study relies on interviews and document reviews to analyse the practical challenges of budgeting and budgetary control from the perspective of a developing country, using the health service sector of Ghana as a case in point. The paper argues that harnessing the opportunities for improvement inherent in systematised budgeting and budgetary control could produce synergistic effects in the face of the apparent challenges.
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