Optimal Tax Administration

Author/Editor:

Michael Keen ; Joel Slemrod

Publication Date:

January 20, 2017

Electronic Access:

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Summary:

This paper sets out a framework for analyzing optimal interventions by a tax administration, one that parallels and can be closely integrated with established frameworks for thinking about optimal tax policy. Its key contribution is the development of a summary measure of the impact of administrative interventions—the “enforcement elasticity of tax revenue”—that is a sufficient statistic for the behavioral response to such interventions, much as the elasticity of taxable income serves as a sufficient statistic for the response to tax rates. Amongst the applications are characterizations of the optimal balance between policy and administrative measures, and of the optimal compliance gap.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2017/008

Subject:

English

Publication Date:

January 20, 2017

ISBN/ISSN:

9781475570267/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2017008

Pages:

27

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