Metadata

Code for How Taxing Is Tax Filing? Using Revealed Preferences to Estimate Compliance Costs

Version
V0
Resource Type
Dataset
Creator
  • Benzarti, Youssef (UCSB and NBER)
Publication Date
2020-10-27
Free Keywords
taxes; compliance costs; public finance
Description

  • Abstract

    This paper uses a quasi-experimental design to estimate the cost of filing taxes. Using US tax returns, I observe how taxpayers choose between itemizing deductions and claiming the standard deduction. Taxpayers forgo large tax savings to avoid compliance costs, which provides a revealed preference estimate of such costs. I show that costs increase with income, consistent with an opportunity cost of time explanation. These estimates suggest substantial costs of filing federal income taxes, significantly larger than previously es- timated using surveys.
Temporal Coverage
  • 1960-01-01 / 2009-12-31
    Time Period: Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1960--Thu Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 2009
Geographic Coverage
  • United States of America
Availability
Download
This study is freely available to the general public via web download.
Relations
  • Has version
    DOI: 10.3886/E115802V1

Update Metadata: 2020-10-27 | Issue Number: 1 | Registration Date: 2020-10-27