(Download) "Introduction the Tax Compliance Conundrum (SYMPOSIUM: Closing the Tax Gap)" by Stanford Law & Policy Review " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Introduction the Tax Compliance Conundrum (SYMPOSIUM: Closing the Tax Gap)
- Author : Stanford Law & Policy Review
- Release Date : January 01, 2009
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
The annual tax gap-the difference between tax due and tax paid--is estimated at well over $300 billion. (2) The fact that some taxpayers pay all the tax they owe, and others only a fraction of that, is commonly (and rightly) said to raise problems of tax equity. It also raises efficiency issues, primarily because underpayment is centered in certain sectors. There, the failure to collect tax serves as a non-legislated subsidy, distorting capital and labor flows. The inefficiency caused by the failure to collect taxes due might be as great as any single inefficiency of the entire tax system. (3) What the tax gap is, and is not, and how we should and should not go about closing that gap, is the subject of the articles in this symposium. Nina Olson is the first Taxpayer Advocate; she has attracted a cadre of capable employees and has used that office as a bully pulpit to protect taxpayer interests. Her work in that office has given her a unique perspective into the compliance problem. In Minding the Gap: A Ten-Step Program for Better Tax Compliance, Olson takes issue with the enforcement-oriented traditional model of tax compliance, which sees taxpayers as Holmesian bad actors, cheating whenever the risk adjusted payoff is positive. Olson points out that underpayment may have other causes: taxpayers may find the law that is too confusing to understand, or use preparers who are incompetent or overly aggressive. In any event, our highest priority ought to be to inculcate values that lead to truly voluntary compliance--that is, compliance that is not generated under the threat of any potential punishment. Among Olson's more interesting proposals is that we increase, rather than decrease, the old-fashioned, in-person (or at least personal) responses taxpayers receive from IRS service centers and district offices. The computerized system we have moved to is cheap and efficient but does not connect to taxpayers in a way that optimizes voluntary compliance.
 "Introduction the Tax Compliance Conundrum (SYMPOSIUM: Closing the Tax Gap)" by Stanford Law & Policy Review " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}