Is Tax Amnesty a Good Tax Policy?

Evidence from State Tax Amnesty Programs in the United States

By (author) Hari S. Luitel

Publication date:

20 August 2014

Length of book:

114 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498500081

Is a tax amnesty a good tax policy? To address this question, this book examines whether a typical state tax amnesty is likely to generate substantial short term tax revenues without a corresponding significant negative effect on long run tax compliance. Although U.S. states have several motivations for implementing tax amnesties, the underlying objective boils down to raising tax revenues, either through the taxes collected immediately or through additions of new tax payers to the tax rolls and through an enlarged tax base. Are state tax amnesties successful in achieving this basic objective (i.e. bringing revenues to the state treasury that would not otherwise be collected)? This book revisits this critical question, given the significant fiscal crisis that many state governments have confronted since the turn of the twenty-first century.

CONTENTS
List of Tables, ii
List of Figures, iv
List of Abbreviations Used, v
Preface, vii
Chapter 1: Introduction, 1
Chapter 2: Tax Amnesty Controversy and Rationale for the Need of Present Study, 3
Chapter 3: Literature Review, 5
Chapter 4: A Review of International Tax Amnesty Experience, 9
Chapter 5: A Review of US State Tax Amnesty Experience, 18
Chapter 6: A Review of Experience with the Colorado 1985 Tax Amnesty, 20
Chapter 7: A Review of Causes of State Tax Amnesties, 28
Chapter 8: Effects of Tax Amnesties on Tax Revenue, 41
Chapter 9: Summary, Discussion and Conclusion, 47
Notes, 51
References, 57
Index

Is Tax Amnesty a Good Tax Policy? is a concise and accessible review of U.S. state tax amnesty programs that emphasizes the interplay between current research on state level tax amnesty policies and those economists using aggregate time series data. This book does an impressive job of integrating insights available from many sources while drawing on economic theory as well as econometric evidence. The book adds not only to our understanding of the real world of contemporary US state public finance, but also reveals the excitement of the intellectual challenge in the field. The clarity of the analysis and exposition of complex ideas and evidence about state tax amnesty policies makes this book of special interest to serious tax researchers and practitioners in public policy analysis.