Did the Tax Reform Act of 1986 Simplify Tax Matters

Bibliographic Data

ID4797757
AuthorsJoel Slemrod (Professor of Economics, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, and Director of the Office of Tax Policy Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan., corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume6
Issue1
Pages45-57
Publication date1992-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965
PublisherAmerican Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1257/jep.6.1.45
OpenAlexW2064127273
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited4

This paper attempts to assess whether the Tax Reform Act of 1986 simplified tax matters significantly, or at all. I conclude that, despite a few scattered signs that tax-related financial planning has declined, the compliance cost of the income tax system is probably higher now than it was in the early 1980s. This suggests that the Tax Reform Act achieved little, if any, simplification in the tax system, although it remains possible that the Act dampened what would have been an even greater increase in compliance cost

Ad valorem tax · Direct tax · Economic policy · Economics · Gross income · Indirect tax · Monetary economics · Public economics · State income tax · Tax credit · Tax reform · Tax Reform Act · Value-added tax · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Taxation and Compliance Studies

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