The Role of Government Reform in Improving Voluntary Tax Compliance in the Digital Economy: The Bangladesh Experience

The Role of Government Reform in Improving Voluntary Tax Compliance in the Digital Economy: The Bangladesh Experience

This chapter analyzes the role of government reforms concerning digitalization and automation of the tax system in enhancing voluntary tax compliance in a developing country, using Bangladesh as a case study. Through an online, two-stage, key-informants survey, the study identified the advantages, weaknesses, and challenges of implementing government reforms in tax administration based on digitalization. The study also incorporated the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic to understand how a digitalized tax system can help manage a revenue system in the face of a pandemic. The empirical results revealed that, in general, participants perceived that digitalization and automation of the tax system play an important role in improving domestic revenue mobilization through improving good governance in Bangladesh’s income tax administration. A majority (88%) of the participants perceived that a digitalized tax administration can help collect tax revenues during a situation like the coronavirus disease pandemic. The study therefore highlighted the need to implement a digitalized tax system as a key policy option to improve voluntary tax compliance effectively and make it more accurate and efficient.