On the Budget-Constrained IRS: Congestion Effect and Welfare
2008/11/18
研討會日期 : 2008-11-18
時間 : 14:00
主講人 : 梁孟玉助研究員
地點 : B棟110室
演講者簡介 : 梁孟玉教授為美國威斯康辛大學麥迪遜分校(University of Wisconsin _Madison)經濟學博士(1999)。目前為本所助研究員。其主要研究領域為賽局理論、產業經濟學理論及個體經濟學理論。
演講摘要 : This paper studies the congestion effect on the tax compliance problem. We extends Graetz, Reinganum and Wilde's (1986) seminal work on tax compliance to the real-world scenario where the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) faces a budget constraint imposed upon her by the Congress. The paper consists of two parts. First, we characterize the equilibria resulting from the interaction between taxpayers and the budget-constrained IRS. Second, we examine the welfare implication of varying the size of the budget allocated to the IRS. It is shown that, to mitigate or eliminate the so-called "congestion effect," the IRS should be sufficiently budgeted and, in particular, we provide a case for the policy prescription that the size of the budget allocated to the IRS should be expanded as long as an additional dollar allocated could return more than an additional dollar of revenue.
