Studies the effectiveness of IRS national and field office labor and capital resource allocation. Finds that the IRS can improve collection with no additional resources -- if it reallocates its resources (via reductions in national office staff and increases uses of technological advances).

The possibility of a relationship between tax revenue and tax progressivity has been an issue of interest to both theorists and policymakers in recent years. Among the public choice theorists there is debate about the expected direction of association. The empirical results have also been mixed....

This article examines the relationship between the selection of tax instruments Abstract and the size of the public budget. It develops and tests with data from 37 large cities a model that is an alternative to the commonly cited fiscal illusion model. The model is predicated upon the assumption...

Income taxes vary significantly across states. Typical measures of these varia-tions utilize aggregate measures, such as per capita taxes or taxes per thousand dollars of income. In this article the income tax systems, as opposed to the taxes paid, are described and compared for the various...

This article develops a theoretical model and employs recent state-level data on highway finance to assess the consequences of using highway levies for non-highway purposes. It examines whether states that divert some of their highway-related levies to fund general government services spend...

This survey focuses on government efforts to curb the use of undesirable goods, notably tobacco products. We synthesize the economics literature and examine the effectiveness of government curbs on tobacco consumption through non-price controls "such as bans on cigarette advertising, health...

Using a large cross-country data set of developing and developed countries it is found that less fragmented municipal government structures are associated with more honest (less corrupt) behavior by government officials. The evidence is strongest for high-income countries. Corruption is measured...

This article contributes to the empirical literature on the political economy of tax policy through the use of a panel data set on statutory rate changes and new tax adoptions by state governments during the postwar period. A principal finding is that there is little evidence in support of...

This paper adds to the extant literature by using cross-country data for about 100 nations to examine the role of historical factors, geographic influences and the government on corruption. Important innovations include considering a wide set of historical, geographical and government...