Tax Reform Resources
Next week, the White House is expected to release a proposal for simplifying the tax system. In the hopes that this will lead to a discussion of tax reform, which all tax experts believe is badly needed, I have compiled a list of full-text online tax reform resources. Hopefully, this will prevent wasted efforts on reinventing the wheel. Readers should feel free to post suggested additions in the comments. I will update this list from time to time.
2009
World Bank, Paying Taxes, 2010: The Global Picture (11-08).
Tax Analysts, Toward Tax Reform (9-09).
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Economic Growth and the Role of Taxation: Aggregate Data (7-09).
National Taxpayers Union, A Taxing Trend: The Rise in Complexity, Forms, and Paperwork Burdens (4-09).
White House, Press briefing by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag on tax reform (3-09)
Congressional Research Service (CRS), Tax Reform: An Overview of Proposals in the 111th Congress (3-09).
White House, “Summary of Tax Reform Session,” Fiscal Responsibility Summit (2-09).
Tax Foundation, Moving Forward with Bipartisan Tax Policy (2-09).
Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK), Mirrlees Review papers (2009).
2008
National Taxpayer Advocate, “The Complexity of the Tax Code,” Annual Report to Congress (12-08).
Urban Institute, How Big Are Total Individual Income Tax Expenditures and Who Benefits from Them? (12-08).
Dave Rifkin (Georgetown University), An Overview of the “Tax Gap” (11-08).
OECD, Tax and Economic Growth (7-08).
CRS, Corporate Tax Reform: Issues for Congress (7-08).
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Public Opinion on Taxes (6-08).
Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), Joint Forum on Tax Compliance (6-08).
JCT, A Reconsideration of Tax Expenditure Analysis (5-08).
Jason Furman (now of the White House’s National Economic Council), “Health Reform Through Tax Reform: A Primer,” Health Affairs (May-June 2008).
Senate Finance Committee, hearing on tax reform (4-08).
OMB Watch, Bridging the Tax Gap (1-08).
European Union, “The Efficiency of Tax Systems,” Public Finances in EMU, chapter 4 (2008).
Department of Finance (Canada), “Considerations in Setting Canada’s Corporate Income Tax Rate,” Tax Expenditures and Evaluations (2008).
Sean Raft (Santa Clara University), “Imagining a Progressive and Comprehensive Consumption Tax,” Oregon Law Review (2007-2008).
2007
Bruce Bartlett, “Why the FairTax Won’t Work,” Tax Notes (12-07).
International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tax Policy: Recent Trends and Coming Challenges (12-07).
Daniel Shaviro (New York University Law School), “Beyond the Pro-Consumption Tax Consensus,” Stanford Law Review (12-07).
Joseph Bankman (Stanford Law School) and David Weisbach (University of Chicago), “Consumption Taxation Is Still Superior to Income Taxation,” Stanford Law Review (12-07).
U.S. Treasury Department, Approaches to Improve the Competitiveness of the U.S. Business Tax System for the 21st Century (12-07).
OECD, Consumption Taxes: The Way of the Future? (10-07).
C.D. Howe Institute (Canada), 2007 Tax Competitiveness Report: A Call for Comprehensive Tax Reform (9-07).
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Reducing the Federal Tax Gap: A Report on Improving Voluntary Compliance (8-07).
U.S. Treasury Department, Treasury Conference on Business Taxation and Global Competitiveness: Background Paper (7-07).
AARP, Spending Entitlements and Tax Entitlements (5-07). I had trouble hyperlinking to this paper so here is the URL: http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/2007_10_benefits.pdf.
GAO, Multiple Approaches Are Needed to Reduce the Tax Gap (2-07).
Bill Gale (Brookings Institution), Fixing the Tax System: Support Fairer, Simpler, and More Adequate Taxation (2-07).
Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka (both of the Hoover Institution at Stanford), The Flat Tax (2007).
2006
U.S. Treasury Department, A Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing the Tax Gap (9-06).
GAO, Business Tax Reform: Simplification and Increased Uniformity of Taxation Would Yield Benefits (9-06).
Senate Finance Committee, hearing on business tax reform (9-06).
CRS, Value-Added Tax: A New U.S. Revenue Source? (8-06).
Senate Finance Committee, hearing on tax reform (8-06).
Brookings Institution, Reforming Tax Incentives into Uniform Refundable Tax Credits (8-06).
Austan Goolsbee (now a member of the Council of Economic Advisers), The Simple Return: Reducing America’s Tax Burden Through Return-Free Filing (7-06).
Charles McLure Jr. (Stanford University) and George Zodrow (Rice University), Consumption-Based Direct Taxes: A Guided Tour of the Amusement Park (7-07).
CRS, Tax Expenditures: Trends and Critiques (9-06).
World Resources Institute, Greening the Tax Code (6-06).
House Ways and Means Committee, hearing on international tax reform (6-06).
House Ways and Means Committee, hearing on corporate tax reform (5-06).
OECD, Reforming Personal Income Tax (3-06).
Joseph Bankman (Stanford) and David Weisbach (University of Chicago), “The Superiority of an Ideal Consumption Tax Over an Ideal Income Tax,” Stanford Law Review (3-06).
2005
President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Simple, Fair, and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System (11-05).
GAO, Understanding the Tax Reform Debate (9-05).
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Understanding Tax Reform: A Guide to 21st Century Alternatives (9-05).
C. Alan Garner (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City), “Consumption Taxes: Macroeconomic Effects and Policy Issues,” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Review (2nd quarter 2005).
Alan Greenspan (then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board), Testimony before the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform (3-05).
Tax Foundation, Fundamental Tax Reform: The Experience of OECD Countries (2-05).
Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), “Options for Tax Reform,” Economic Report of the President, chapter 3 (2-05).
David Bradford (Princeton University), “A Tax System for the Twenty-First Century,” Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, chapter 1 (2005).
Bill Gale (Brookings Institution), “Tax Reform in the Real World,” Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, chapter 2 (2005).
Michael Graetz (Yale), “A Fair and Balanced Tax System for the Twenty-First Century,” Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, chapter 3 (2005).
Robert Hall (Hoover Institution), “Guidelines for Tax Reform: The Simple, Progressive Value-Added Consumption Tax,” Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, chapter 4 (2005).
Center for American Progress, A Fair and Simple Tax System for Our Future: A Progressive Approach to Tax Reform (2005).
Committee for Economic Development (CED), A New Tax Framework: A Blueprint for Averting a Fiscal Crisis (2005).
2004
U.S. Treasury Department, Optimal Tax Enforcement: A Review of the Literature and Practical Implications (12-04).
Daniel Shaviro (NYU), “Replacing the Income Tax With a Progressive Consumption Tax,” Tax Notes (4-04).
David Weisbach (University of Chicago) and Jacob Nussim (University of Haifa), The Integration of Tax and Spending Programs (3-04).
David Bradford (Princeton), The X Tax in the World Economy (2004).
2003
Edward McCaffery (USC), “Ten Facts About Fundamental Tax Reform,” Tax Notes (12-03).
U.S. Treasury Department, Report to Congress on Return-Free Tax Systems: Tax Simplification Is a Prerequisite (12-03).
Dale Jorgenson (Harvard), “Efficient Taxation of Income,” Harvard Magazine (March-April 2003).
CEA, “Tax Policy for a Growing Economy,” Economic Report of the President, chapter 5 (2-03).
2002
Pam Olson, assistant secretary for tax policy, memorandum on tax reform to Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill (11-02).
Michael Graetz (Yale), “100 Million Unnecessary Returns: A Fresh Start for the U.S. Tax System,” Yale Law Journal (11-02).
New York State Bar Association Tax Section, Report on Simplification of the Internal Revenue Code (3-02).
2001
Bruce Bartlett, The End of Tax Expenditures As We Know Them? (6-01).
JCT, Study of the Overall State of the Federal Tax System and Recommendations for Simplification, Pursuant to Section 8022 (3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3 (4-01).
2000
1990s
Annette Nellen (San Jose State U.), Tax Reform in the United States (6-99).
Norman Ture (IRET), The Inflow/Outflow Tax—A Saving-Deferred Neutral Tax System (8-97).
CBO, The Economic Effects of Comprehensive Tax Reform (7-97).
CBO, Comparing Income and Consumption Tax Bases (7-97).
National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform (Kemp Commission), Unleashing America’s Potential: A Pro-Growth, Pro-Family Tax System for the 21st Century (1-96).
Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts), Flat Taxes and Consumption Taxes: A Guide to the Debate (12-95).
Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform (Kerrey-Danforth), Final Report to the President (1-95).
U.S. Treasury Department, A Recommendation for Integration of the Individual and Corporate Tax Systems (12-92).
U.S. Treasury Department, Integration of the Individual and Corporate Tax Systems: Taxing Business Income Once (1-92).
1980s
CBO, Revising the Corporate Income Tax (5-85).
U.S. Treasury Department, Tax Reform for Fairness, Simplicity, and Economic Growth, 3 vols. (1984).
CBO, Revising the Individual Income Tax (7-83).
1970s
Institute for Fiscal Studies (Meade Committee), The Structure and Reform of Direct Taxation (1978).
U.S. Treasury Department, Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform (1-77).
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Thanks
Thank you for compiling the great list of reports over the past many years. I see that you have a 1999 report of mine listed (as well as a more recent one in the Tax Analysts 2009 report). It is amazing, perhaps, that this 1999 report is still mostly timely in describing the needs for reform and the types of proposals. I recently noted this in a blog entry - Tax Reform Reruns - http://21stcenturytaxation.blogspot.com/2009/11/tax-reform-reruns-what-w....
It will be interesting to see what is issued on December 4 by President Obama's task force. While not intended to be "major" reform, even suggestions and actions on simplification and reducing the tax gap would be good reforms.
Just thanks
dude you're a freakin' godsend. for a former cynic like me, it's good to know some people actually take governing, policy seriously. thanks a bunch!
Thanks
I appreciate your effort, and I especially noted your inclusion of what I think is the Donald Reagan-era Treasury study of taxation from 1984 that was really well done and totally ignored. I hope that we can get beyond the parties posturing and get a system that is efficient, fair and transparent.
1984
The 1984 Treasury report was not ignored. On the contrary, it formed the basis for the 1986 tax reform. Of course, the final legislation differed substantially from the Treasury proposal, but given the nature of the congressional meat grinder it's remarable that a lot of what Treasury proposed survived until then end.