Sanitation and property tax compliance: analyzing the social contract in Brazil

Kresch, Evan Plous, Walker, Mark, Best, Michael Carlos, Gerard, François and Naritomi, Joana ORCID: 0000-0002-6761-3077 (2023) Sanitation and property tax compliance: analyzing the social contract in Brazil. Journal of Development Economics, 160. ISSN 0304-3878

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Abstract

This paper investigates the role that sanitation plays in upholding the social contract, whereby citizens pay taxes in exchange for governments providing goods and services. We study the case of Manaus, Brazil, where sewer connections vary considerably across the city and property taxes are calculated in a presumptive manner that does not account for a household's access to sanitation. We find that households with access to the city sewer system are significantly more likely to pay their property tax, relative to households that only have access to latrines or lack access to improved sanitation entirely. Our evidence is consistent with a role for the social contract in this decision, as households with sewer systems are more likely to have positive attitudes towards the municipal government.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	H Social Sciences J Political Science
Date Deposited:	06 Jan 2023 13:45
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 08:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117757

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