world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes … they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts-and, in … repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth …

complex tax system. The analysis is independent of whether income is earned legitimately, or by avoiding or evading taxes. In … this sense, learning about tax minimization strategies (tax manipulation) is isomorphic to learning about tax rates. The … government in our model balances a trade-off: A better understanding of the tax system potentially allows taxpayers to optimize …