Causas de la evasión del impuesto predial unificado y complementarios en el municipio de Cáchira de Norte de Santander

Abstract

Taxes are tools to implement government plans that seek to improve the lives of citizens. However, tax evasion, caused by various factors, creates fiscal deficits that hinder the achievement of government goals and objectives. Authors such as Méndez et al. (2007), Galeano (2020), Tapia (2000), and Hoyos (2020) “point out that distrust in the government and the perception that taxes are not invested in social well-being are key factors in tax evasion” . The municipality of Cáchira, in Colombia, faces the problem of evasion of the Unified Property Tax (IPU), which results in the municipality's low capacity to assume operating expenses. From the above arose the need to investigate the causes that lead the owners of delinquent properties of the municipality to evade the cancellation of the IPU and look for strategies to reduce this behavior, for which 700 taxpayers, both urban and rural, were surveyed. They expressed that evasion is mainly due to socioeconomic reasons and distrust of the government. It is recommended that the local administration establish communication channels to inform taxpayers about the use of IPU resources, promote citizen participation in decision-making, and provide training so that owners understand the expense associated with the tax. These measures should be led and coordinated by the local administration to optimize municipal collection and address tax evasion.