I'm a taxpayer … get me out of here? Evidence on attitudes towards simplifying the tax jungle

Abstract Why are tax systems complex despite a conventional wisdom that simplification is desirable? We study attitudes towards tax simplification using new survey and experimental data. We first document that most respondents generally desire tax simplification. Using various survey techniques (including survey experiments and open‐ended questions), we show that people are not fully aware of the objectives, implications and trade‐offs involved in tax simplification. Overall, our findings suggest that people generally support tax simplification, but have preferences to keep certain complexity‐adding elements of the tax system, particularly those that compensate for circumstances (rather than choices). Our results imply that tax complexity is generally not desired per se , but potentially arises as an unintended consequence of many individually demanded tax expenditures.