Political support for tax complexity: A simple model

Abstract

Starting in the 1980s, income tax reforms in many countries focused on lowering marginal tax rates combined with the attempt to reduce the complexity of tax systems, e.g., by simplifying the regulations for admissible tax deductions. Most notable were differing proposals for a flat tax, whose proponents argued that taxpayers would need only a postcard to file their returns (see Atkinson, 1995). A move in this direction was the 1986 Tax Reform Act in the US: it introduced a tax schedule with only two brackets and increased the standard deduction, which meant that fewer households had to itemize their deductions. Similarly, recent German tax reforms were intended to decrease marginal tax rates and to standardize deductions for work-related expenditures. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.