Research Areas
Compliance Costs & Tax Complexity
The full cost a tax system is more than the amount of tax paid. It also includes the cost of tax planning and paperwork. Economists call these "tax compliance" costs, and the IRS estimates Americans spend 6.6 billion hours per year filling out tax forms—including 1.6 billion hours on the 1040 form alone. In 2002 Americans spent roughly $194 billion dollars on tax compliance. That amounts to 20 cents of compliance cost for every dollar collected by the tax system.
Additional questions about tax complexity and compliance costs? Contact us at (202) 464-6200.
Articles from the Tax Foundation
- National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson: Annual Report to Congress, February 3, 2010
- Rep. Dave Camp: Tax Increases in 2009, Tax Outlook for 2010, January 13, 2010
- Ari Fleischer: Reforming the Tax Code to Promote Economic Growth, Not Wealth Redistribution, April 15, 2009
- Topline Results for Tax Foundation's 2009 Survey of U.S. Attitudes on Taxes, Government Spending and Wealth Distribution, April 8, 2009
- Congressman Tom Price (R-GA): Obama Budget vs. GOP Alternative, April 8, 2009
- Richard Rahn of the Cato Institute: Tax Havens, Tax Competition and Financial Privacy, March 25, 2009
- Robert Carroll of the Tax Foundation and Diane Lim Rogers of the Concord Coalition: Moving Forward with Bipartisan Tax Policy Reform, March 11, 2009
- Tax Holiday or Permanent Tax Relief?, by Jonathan Williams, February 2, 2007
- Total Federal Income Tax Compliance Costs, 1990-2015, October 26, 2006
- Number of Words in Internal Revenue Code and Federal Tax Regulations, 1955-2005, October 26, 2006
- Sales Tax Holidays: Politically Expedient but Poor Tax Policy, by Johanna Mausolf, Curtis S. Dubay and Jonathan Williams, August 3, 2006
- Gas Tax Holidays No Cause for Celebration, by Jonathan Williams and Andrew Chamberlain, July 20, 2006
- Temporary Gasoline Tax Holidays: Relief for Motorists or Poor Tax Policy?, by Andrew Chamberlain and Jonathan Williams, July 10, 2006
- The Rising Cost of Complying with the Federal Income Tax, by Scott A. Hodge, J. Scott Moody and Wendy P. Warcholik, Ph.D., January 10, 2006
- The Cost of Complying with the Federal Income Tax, by J. Scott Moody, July 1, 2002
- The Cost of Tax Compliance, by J. Scott Moody, July 1, 2001
- The Cost of Complying with the U.S. Federal Income Tax, by J. Scott Moody, November 1, 2000
- The Impact of Tax Complexity on Small Business, by J. Scott Moody, September 1, 2000
- Compliance Costs of Alternative Tax Systems II, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., March 21, 1996
- An Analysis of the Tax Burden and Compliance Costs of the Armey-Shelby Flat Tax, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., July 1, 1995
- Compliance Costs of Alternative Tax Systems, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., June 1, 1995
- The Compliance Costs and Regulatory Burden Imposed by the Federal Tax Laws, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., January 1, 1995
- The Cost of Unstable Tax Laws, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., October 1, 1994
- Growth of Federal Government Tax "Industry" Parallels Growth of Federal Tax Code, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., September 1, 1994
- The High Cost of Tax Compliance for U.S. Business, by Arthur P. Hall, Ph.D., November 1, 1993
- The Income Tax Compliance Cost of Big Business, by Joel Slemrod and Marsha Blumenthal, November 1, 1993
- Why Not Amnesty?, by TF Staff, September 10, 1985
- Tax Review: Income Tax Simplification, by Harley L. Lutz, July 1, 1943
- Links to Other Tax Policy Resources, December 31, 1969