Theory and Practice in Tax Administration

Date
2009
Authors
Camp, Bryan T.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Virginia Tax Review
Virginia Tax Review
Abstract

This article concerns the history of automation in U.S. tax administration and the challenges automation presents to administering the laws consistent with democratic values. The most under-theorized aspect of tax administration is the expansion of automation and its impact on the current tax system.

Historically, the U.S. system of taxation depended on the self-reporting of relevant financial information by taxpayers. The original design of tax administration was built around that premise and required significant human interaction between government employees and taxpayers.

The rise of what is called Automated Data Processing (ADP) - particularly since WWII - has given the IRS wonderful efficiency in sorting through massive amounts of information. This has allowed it to rely less on the information provided by taxpayers and more on the information provided ABOUT taxpayers by various third parties. ADP has also allowed the IRS to become more efficient at identifying "non-responsive" taxpayers and taking action against them.

At the same time, ADP poses a constant threat to unbalance the Service, to degrade tax administration into an exercise in data manipulation and not an exercise in determining the correct taxes owed. It undermines the American way of taxation, where the IRS strives to administer the tax laws with a realization that the government's interests align with taxpayer interests and not simply with dollars to the fisc.

This article is one of a number of articles commenting on a reprint of Commissioner Mortimer Caplin's thoughts about tax administration, originally published in 1964.

Description
Keywords
Tax administration, Returns processing, Automated data processing
Citation
29 Va. Tax Rev. 227