Do people really want a simple tax system? Evidence on preferences towards income tax simplification

Sebastian Blesse, Florian Buhlmann and Philipp Doerrenberg

No 19-058, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Using new survey and experimental data for a representative sample of the German population, we study preferences for tax simplification. The general wisdom seems to suggest that most tax systems are overly complex and that tax simplification is generally desirable. Consistent with this general wisdom, we find that more than 90% of our sample believe that the tax system needs to be simplified. However, there also are efficiency and equity arguments in support of a certain degree of tax complexity and it is puzzling why tax systems remain highly complex despite the conventional view in favor of more simplification. The main purpose of our study then is to investigate if the high support for tax simplification is driven by a lack of awareness about the trade-offs behind simple and complex tax systems. Our data show that the support for simplification decreases as we randomly provide economic arguments against simplification and as we ask respondents if the tax system should account for specific differences in living situations (such as costly care of elderly family members). Overall, our findings suggest that the high support for simpler taxes is to some extent driven by a lack of awareness about the implications of tax simplification.

Keywords: Tax Complexity; Preferences Towards Tax Simplification; Randomized Survey Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 D72 H2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pbe and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19058

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