Equality is a goal in the administration of many taxing jurisdictions, be it U.S. federal taxation, state and local taxation or other nation’s tax schemes. While equality may be a goal of many tax systems, it may be better described as a stretch goal. In practice equality is generally qualified and instead the focus is on minimizing tax (by taxpayers) and maximizing revenue (by collections.)
In a 2005 GAO report, the criteria typically used for evaluating tax systems is described as
“(1) equity; (2) economic efficiency; and (3) simplicity, transparency, and administrability. A tax system is generally considered better than alternatives that raise the same amount of revenue if it is more equitable, more economically efficient, simpler for taxpayers to comply with, and easier and less costly to administer. Designing a tax system that is superior on each of these criteria is difficult because the criteria frequently conflict with one another and trade-offs often must be made. For example, a tax system that provides credits to low-income individuals may be judged by some to be more equitable than a system without this feature. ”
In this book, the focus is on the U.S. federal tax law and administrative procedures to take a brief look at the foundation and current state of equality in tax procedure. Also discussed are examples in taxation faced with conflicting priorities. While the ideal of equality may be tempting to embrace, we must pragmatically accept pockets of inequality in a complex taxing system.
While acknowledging the impossibilities of a perfectly patched system at any given point in time, there is significant value in limiting inequalities. This book will discuss at least a few of the opportunities or levers to improve equality of tax procedure. Many taxpayer advocates have helped to bridge gaps of unequal treatment by calling for more transparency and less complexity and hope to further this endeavor through discussion and analysis.
Read the full E-book here… US Tax and the IRS Equality of Taxation E-Book.
The Goldstein Firm, CPA, LLC is a CPA firm located in the metro Atlanta area in the city of Alpharetta. Founder Eric Goldstein has 20 years of private and public experience helping small business and big business as well.
Circular 230 regulations require all attorneys and accountants to provide extensive disclosure when providing certain written tax communications to clients. We would like to inform you that since this document does not contain all of such disclosures, you may not rely on any tax advice contained in this document to avoid tax penalties.
by Eric Goldstein