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Reducing the Tax Gap: Results of a GAO-Sponsored Symposium

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date June 2, 1995
Report No. GGD-95-157
Subject
Summary:

Experts convened in January 1995 at a GAO symposium on the federal "tax gap" agreed that major changes to the current tax system were needed to improve taxpayer compliance with the tax laws. Available Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data suggest that taxpayers fail to pay about 13 percent of the federal income taxes due on income from legal sources. Among the recommendations: make tax laws simpler; extend the reach of tax requirements, such as income tax withholding, that promote taxpayer compliance; and improve IRS' ability to resolve compliance problems quickly. But as the panelists recognized, any change that extended the reach of the tax system would also increase the extent to which the tax system intruded into taxpayers' affairs and must be carefully weighed.

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