Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Panos Pashardes Author-Email: p.pashardes@ucy.ac.cy Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and Economics Research Centre, University of Cyprus Author-Name: Alexandros Polycarpou Author-Workplace-Name: Economics Research Centre, University of Cyprus Title: Income Tax Evasion, Inequality and Poverty Abstract: This paper uses a consumer demand based method to estimate the extent to which households in Cyprus under-report their income from self-employment, capital income and income from agriculture. On the basis of these estimates, the size of black economy appears to be around 7–8% of GDP. We find that income under-reporting biases measures of inequality and poverty downwards, suggesting that egalitarian and antipoverty policies need to become more generous, but also more carefully targeted to avoid false entitlement to social benefits. The high tax free income undoubtedly helps reduce the size of the tax evasion problem in Cyprus. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Income under-reporting, black economy, tax free income, Cyprus Journal: Cyprus Economic Policy Review Pages: 37-49 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Year: 2008 Month: December File-URL: http://www.ucy.ac.cy/erc/documents/Full%20Text_Pashardes1208.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:erc:cypepr:v:2:y:2008:i:2:p:37-49