Feedback Monitoring Tools of the Russian Federal Tax Service

Abstract In recent years, the Russian Federal Tax Service has increasingly focused on processing taxpayer feedback through various communication channels. In this paper, we investigate the impact of this feedback system on the effectiveness of tax collection over the regions of the Russian Federation for 2017‐2021. Using a unique dataset of feedback received and a bunch ofcontrol variables with instruments, we show that the spread offeedback channels resulted in a small but significant increase in tax proceedings. We provide behavioral interpretation for this result: the introduction of feedback systems signals taxpayers that the tax offices have started to pay attention to what people think about their service. This simple signal transforms the relationship between taxpayers and tax administration from that of surveillance and authority to customer relations, which is reciprocated by the taxpayers and has contributed to the improvement of tax discipline.