MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 03281cam a22003257a 4500
001 2004620077
003 DLC
005 20041006114326.0
007 cr |||||||||||
008 040923s2004 dcu sb i000 0 eng
010 $a 2004620077
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dDLC
043 $aa-ii---
050 00 $aHG3881.5.W57
100 1 $aAlm, James.
245 10 $aStamp duties in Indian states$h[electronic resource] :$ba case for reform /$cJames Alm, Patricia Annez, and Arbind Modi.
260 $a[Washington, D.C. :$bWorld Bank,$c2004]
490 1 $aPolicy research working paper ;$v3413
538 $aSystem requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
538 $aMode of access: World Wide Web.
500 $aTitle from PDF file as viewed on 9/23/2004.
530 $aAlso available in print.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references.
520 3 $a"Alm, Annez, and Modi review the options for reform of stamp duties on immovable property transfers collected by Indian state governments. After briefly reviewing some of the many administrative difficulties experienced with the tax, they turn to an examination of its economic impacts. A review of stamp duties internationally indicates that Indian rates are exceptionally high, at rates often above 10 percent. Most countries' rates are less than 5 percent, including a number of low and middle-income developing countries. With these high rates, the authors find that while the tax has become the third largest revenue source for many Indian states, it imposes high compliance costs on taxpayers, has been subject to a good deal of evasion and fraud, and the distortionary impacts appear to be large, reducing the responsiveness of real estate markets in Indian cities by discouraging transactions essential to the efficient growth of cities. The authors then study the revenue implications of lowering stamp duty rates, which need to be understood if reform is to be viable. Evidence indicates that the current high duty rates, coupled with weak tax administration, lead to widespread evasion of the tax through underdeclaration. This underdeclaration of property values directly affects collection of other taxes, among them, property taxes and capital gains tax. Moreover, it indirectly affects the collection of all taxes through the impact of underdeclaration on the circulation of black money. Simulations indicate that revenues lost due to a lowering of stamp duty rates closer to international levels are quite likely to be recovered in higher collections of other taxes. However, these taxes would at least in part be collected by other levels of government. So reform could be made a more viable option through appropriately designed intergovernmental transfers. This paper a joint product of the Energy and Infrastructure Sector Unit, South Asia Region, and the Urban Unit, Transport and Urban Development Department is part of a larger effort in the Bank to to assess the impacts of alternative tax systems in urban finance"--World Bank web site.
650 0 $aStamp duties$zIndia.
700 1 $aAnnez, Patricia Clarke.
700 1 $aModi, Arbind.
710 2 $aWorld Bank.
830 0 $aPolicy research working papers (Online) ;$v3413.
856 40 $uhttp://econ.worldbank.org/view.php?type=5&id=38863