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How Tax Complexity and Enforcement Affect the Equity and Efficiency of The Income Tax

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Author Info
Louis Kaplow

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Abstract

Much criticism of the income tax involves administration: the enormous complexity of the system is responsible for large compliance costs, public and private, and the tax gap is large despite substantial resources devoted to enforcement. The desire for simplification and improved compliance motivates various incremental reforms as well as proposals for fundamental restructuring of the tax system. But evaluation of such changes is difficult because the underlying problems have not been analyzed in terms of the equity and efficiency concerns that animate more familiar assessments of income tax policy. This article provides a framework for a unified analysis, in which the same factors that are used to justify the choice of the tax base and the rate structure are employed to resolve problems involving complexity, compliance costs, and enforcement difficulties.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5391.

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Date of creation: May 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5391

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion
H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Joel Slemrod & Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1994. "Analyzing the standard deduction as a presumptive tax," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 25-34, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Kaplow, Louis, 1990. "Optimal taxation with costly enforcement and evasion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 221-236, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Alm, James & Sanchez, Isabel & de Juan, Ana, 1995. "Economic and Noneconomic Factors in Tax Compliance," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(1), pages 3-18.
  4. Mayshar, Joram, 1991. " Taxation with Costly Administration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 93(1), pages 75-88.
  5. Louis Kaplow, 1996. "A Fundamental Objection to Tax Equity Norms: A Call for Utilitarianism," NBER Working Papers 4961, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Louis Kaplow, 1989. "Horizontal Equity: Measures in Search of a Principle," NBER Working Papers 1679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1979. "A Note on Optimal Taxation and Administrative Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 475-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Joel Slemrod & Nikki Sorum, 1985. "The Compliance Cost of the U.S. Individual Income Tax System," NBER Working Papers 1401, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Mirrlees, J A, 1990. "Taxing Uncertain Incomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 34-45, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Slemrod, Joel & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1987. " The Optimal Size of a Tax Collection Agency," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 89(2), pages 183-92.
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  11. Joel Slemrod & Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1995. "The Costs of Taxation and the Marginal Cost of Funds," IMF Working Papers 95/83, International Monetary Fund.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Das-Gupta, Arindam, 2004. "Economic theory of tax compliance with special reference to tax compliance costs," Working Papers 04/13, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Dynarski, Susan & Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2008. "Complexity and Targeting in Federal Student Aid: A Quantitative Analysis," Working Paper Series rwp08-005, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Alessandro Balestrino & Umberto Galmarini, 2005. "On the Redistributive Properties of Presumptive Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  4. Evy Crals & Lode Vereeck, 2005. "Taxes, Tradable Rights and Transaction Costs," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 199-223, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Dynarski, Susan & Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2006. "The Cost of Complexity in Federal Student Aid: Lessons from Optimal Tax Theory and Behavioral Economics," Working Paper Series rwp06-013, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. James, Simon & Edwards, Alison, 2008. "Developing Tax Policy in a Complex and Changing World," Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Economics and Finance, vol. 38(1), pages 35-53, March. [Downloadable!]
  7. Edgar L. Feige, 2001. "Taxation for the 21st Century: The Automated Payment Transaction (APT) Tax," Public Economics 0106001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Manfred Rose & Michael Robert Rimmler & Marko Thomas Scholz & Daniel Zöller, 2007. "Kosten der Erhebung von Unternehmenssteuern in Deutschland," Working Papers 0459, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2007. [Downloadable!]
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