Jonathan Choi (Minnesota; Google Scholar) presents Subjective Prices of Tax Compliance (with Ariel Jurow Kleiman (Loyola-LA; Google Scholar)) at Northwestern at this time as a part of its Superior Matters in Taxation Colloquium hosted by Gregg Polsky:

This Article introduces and estimates “subjective prices” of tax compliance, that are prices of tax compliance that folks expertise instantly and individually. To measure these prices, we carried out a survey experiment assessing how a lot taxpayers would pay to cut back the unpleasantness related to submitting a tax return. The experiment revealed that taxpayers are extra involved about inadvertent errors of their tax filings than by the point spent on compliance. Respondents additionally solely ascribed significant worth to eliminating all tax compliance work; they ascribed primarily no worth to marginal time financial savings. Moreover, eliminating tax compliance time for high-income taxpayers and taxpayers with complicated returns isn’t value way more than eliminating tax compliance time for low-income taxpayers with easy returns.

These findings have necessary implications for principle and coverage. From a theoretical perspective, these survey outcomes name into query the practically common apply of utilizing market wages to monetize the time that folks spend on tax compliance work. 

Certainly, our outcomes counsel that folks worth their tax compliance time at a fee a lot decrease than their hourly wage. Concerning coverage, these findings counsel policymakers to suppose huge in relation to lowering tax compliance prices, concentrate on simplifications that scale back errors reasonably than merely saving time, and prioritize reforms that have an effect on low-income taxpayers.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/02/choi-presents-subjective-costs-of-tax-compliance-today-at-northwestern.html