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Tax Administration and Collection Costs: the Fairtax Vs. the Existing Federal Tax System

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Tax Administration and Collection Costs: the Fairtax Vs. the Existing Federal Tax System Tax Administration and Collection Costs: The FairTax vs. the Existing Federal Tax System David G. Tuerck, Ph.D. Paul Bachman, MSIE Alfonso Sanchez-Penalver, MSF The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University 8 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108 Web: www.beaconhill.org; phone: 617-573-8750; fax: 617-994-4279 e-mail: [email protected]. September 2007 We would like to thank Colleen Sprague for her most valuable help in the preparation of this report. Table of Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................3 I. Introduction .........................................................................................................................5 II. Literature Review ...............................................................................................................6 III. FairTax Revenue Collections ............................................................................................8 IV. FairTax Revenue Collection Process .............................................................................12 V. Retailers and Service Providers (Sellers) ......................................................................13 VI. State Governments............................................................................................................15 VII. Federal Government .........................................................................................................26 VIII. Private Sector Savings .....................................................................................................28 IX. Total FairTax Costs (Savings) ........................................................................................29 X. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................30 References ....................................................................................................................................31 Table of Tables and Figures Table 1: FairTax Net Administrative Costs (Savings)....................................................... 4 Table 2: FairTax Base and Rate Estimates ........................................................................ 9 Table 3: FairTax Revenue Estimates ............................................................................... 11 Table 4: Sellers’ FairTax Collections .............................................................................. 14 Table 5: Sellers’ Costs under the FairTax........................................................................ 15 Table 6: State Governments FairTax Collections............................................................ 17 Table 7: Fiscal Years and Data Sources for the Different States..................................... 18 Table 8: Descriptive Statistics ......................................................................................... 19 Table 9: OLS Estimates ................................................................................................... 21 Figure 1: Estimated Cost per $100 of Revenue ............................................................... 23 Table 10: State FairTax Collection Costs ........................................................................ 24 Table 11: Federal FairTax Revenue................................................................................. 26 Table 12: Federal FairTax Savings.................................................................................. 27 Table 13: Private Sector Costs of Replaced Taxes .......................................................... 28 Table 14: Total FairTax Costs (Savings)......................................................................... 29 Table 15: Sensitivity Analysis of the FairTax Costs ....................................................... 29 Tax Administration and Collection Costs: The FairTax vs. the Existing Federal Tax System 2 Executive Summary Representative John Linder and Senator Saxby Chambliss filed legislation in the form of H.R. 25/S. 1025, the Fair Tax Act of 2007 (from here on H.R. 25). This legislation calls for abolishing most existing federal taxes, including the personal and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and the estate and gift taxes and replacing them with a progressive national consumption tax. Under the FairTax, the federal government would raise almost all of its revenue by taxing consumer purchases at a “tax-inclusive” rate of 23 percent.1 The FairTax is progressive, as it provides for a rebate of taxes (called a “prebate”) to be paid to each household on its spending up to the poverty level. H.R. 25 has several objectives, including tax simplification and economic growth. It abolishes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the federal agency that currently collects and administers federal taxes, and shifts the vast majority of these responsibilities to the individual state sales tax authorities.2 Adopting such a fundamental reform would have implications for the entire process of collecting and administering taxes in the United States. The roles and responsibilities of governments at all levels, businesses, and individuals would change under the FairTax. Individuals would no longer file tax returns, businesses would be responsible for collecting and remitting the tax to the states, and state governments would process the revenue collections and forward the appropriate revenue amount to the federal government. These changes prompt important questions pertaining to the cost of administering and complying with the FairTax: (1) What are the administration, collection, and filing costs under the FairTax, and whom do they fall upon? (2) How do these costs compare to costs under the current system? (3) Would these costs increase or decrease under the FairTax when compared to the current system? This report attempts to provide answers to these questions. For this study, BHI estimates the net (additional) administration, collection, and filing costs (usually called simply “administrative costs”) of the FairTax by considering each of the revenue collection layers individually – retailers and service providers (sellers), state governments, and the federal government. BHI also accounts for the savings the private sector would enjoy because of no longer having to file the income, estate, gift, and payroll taxes that are replaced by the FairTax. We do our analysis for 2005, the most recent year for which there are data on states’ collection agencies’ operating costs or budget appropriations. 1 This means that the tax on a good priced at $77.00 would be $23.00, so that the total price is $100.00. The “tax- exclusive” rate would be about 30 percent (= 23/77). 2 H.R. 25 prohibits any funding of the IRS three years after its enactment. It provides for collection of the FairTax by state sales tax authorities and specifies how the federal government and the states will jointly administer the tax. It requires the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an Office of Revenue Allocation to arbitrate any disputes between states regarding the destination of sales for purposes of allocating sales tax revenue among the states. Tax Administration and Collection Costs: The FairTax vs. the Existing Federal Tax System 3 As shown in Table 1, we find that the FairTax saves $346.51 billion in administrative costs in 2005 when compared to the administrative costs of the taxes it replaces. This implies a saving of $14.70 per $100 of the gross revenue the FairTax would collect. We find these estimates robust enough to ensure that even if any additional spending is needed under the FairTax to hold avoidance and evasion to their current levels, this increased spending would never overcome the savings the FairTax brings when compared to the current taxation system. Table 1: FairTax Net Administrative Costs (Savings) Cost component $ billions 1. Net sellers’ FairTax collection costs 60.31 2. Net state governments’ FairTax collection costs 9.66 3. Net federal savings (9.38) 4. Private sector savings (407.11) 5. Total FairTax costs (savings) [1. + 2. + 3. + 4.] (346.51) 6. Total FairTax costs (savings) per $100 of revenue (14.70) Billions of $ except per $100 figures. Numbers may not add up because of rounding. Tax Administration and Collection Costs: The FairTax vs. the Existing Federal Tax System 4 I. Introduction The U.S. federal tax code has undergone major changes since the last important attempt at tax simplification in 1986. In subsequent years, Congress enacted legislation to raise and then lower income tax rates, reduce the tax rates on capital gains and dividends, increase deductions for IRA contributions, create Roth IRAs and medical savings accounts, increase the earned income tax credit for the working poor, and make other changes. The result is over 60,000 pages of tax code, rules, and rulings that can confuse even the most adept tax professionals. With federal tax reform again on the table, several groups and legislators have proposed alternative plans. The FairTax plan is one such proposal. Essentially, it aims to replace most current federal taxes with a national retail sales tax. In 2005, Representative John Linder and Senator Saxby Chambliss filed legislation in the form of H.R. 25. Such a fundamental overhaul of the federal tax system would impact nearly every individual and institution in the United States. The tax collection, administration, and filing processes would be completely revamped under
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