The dissertation identifies and responds to two gaps in the current literature on the elasticity of taxable income (ETI). Firstly, there is a lack of a deep understanding of the process underlying behavioral responses of taxable income to taxation. Secondly, there is a lack of inquiry into the functional form of the ETI. This dissertation seeks to fill these gaps in the ETI literature. It constructs a theoretical framework for behavioral responses of taxable income to taxation, based on a review of the literature on taxpayer compliance behavior. The dissertation also introduces a new approach to estimating the ETI.

This study is the first attempt to fill in the gap of the ETI for a lack of studying the functional form of the ETI and factors determining the ETI function. Using the functional form derived from the Allingham-Sandmo model and empirical data on the function's arguments in the years 1979, 1982, 1985, and 1988, the dissertation studies behavior of the declared income elasticity function.