There are by now vast academic literatures on both tax compliance and the underground economy. These literatures provide estimates of the overall degrees of non-compliance and shadow (or hidden) activity as well as numerous insights into their causes and consequences. However, we believe it is...

Micro data from audited tax returns are used to evaluate changes in the actual progressivity of U.S. federal income taxes in 1979 and 1988, which is distinct from apparent progressivity. Statistical inference methods are applied to global measures of both actual and apparent residual and...