Both buyers and sellers of goods and services may bene.t from letting their economic transactions go unrecorded for tax purposes. The supplier reduces his tax burden by underreporting income, whereas the consumer gains from buying a non-taxed lower-priced product. The distributional implications...

Preface -- Introduction -- An overview of the U.S. tax system -- Fairness -- Taxes and economic prosperity -- Simplicity and enforceability -- Elements of fundamental reform -- Consumption tax alternatives -- Starting from here -- A voter's guide to the tax policy debate -- Notes -- References...

The tax-systems perspective considers a variety of costs and behavioral margins often ignored in standard tax analysis: administrative and compliance costs, evasion and avoidance behavior, and multiple nonrate tax-system instruments (for example, withholding and public disclosure). We show how...