Tax Gap Resources
The “tax gap” is the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed by law. One of the most fair and efficient ways for policymakers to raise revenue would be to close some portion of the tax gap—an approach that rather than raising new taxes, focuses on collecting the taxes that are already owed. This policy is supported by President Biden and has been supported by former Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump, and much like cutting erroneous spending, should be a policy supported by all lawmakers.
In our Tax Gap Primer, we answer the following questions:
- How Big is the Tax Gap?
- Why Is There a Tax Gap?
- Which Unpaid Taxes Contribute to the Tax Gap?
- Who Contributes to the Tax Gap?
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Tax Gap Content
- Primer: Understanding the Tax Gap
- Chartbook: Reducing the Tax Gap
- IRS Estimates a $625 Billion Tax Gap
- IRS Cuts Would Cause $66 Billion of Revenue Loss
- IRS Rescission Would Worsen Deficits
- Breaking Down the Proposals in the President's FY 2024 Budget
- IRS Funding Repeal Could Cost Over $100 Billion, Encourage Tax Cheating
- IRS Releases Updated Tax Gap Analysis
- The Inflation Reduction Act Would Reduce the Tax Gap
- Bank Reporting Can Help Reduce the Tax Gap
- Event Recap: Tax Gap Myths and Facts: A Conversation with Natasha Sarin
- Former IRS Commissioner Urges Congress to Expand Information Banks Report to the IRS
- CBO Estimates $120 Billion from IRS Funding Boost
- Republican and Democratic Presidents Support Reducing the Tax Gap
- Biden Tax Gap Proposal Deserves Bipartisan Consideration
- Group of Senators Introduce Bill to Narrow the Tax Gap
- Policymakers Must Avoid Budget Busting Summer
- Maya MacGuineas on Fox Business Discussing the Growing National Debt
- There Are Plenty of Offsets for Infrastructure Package
- What's In the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan?
- Breaking Down the Proposals in the President's FY 2022 Budget
- What's in President Biden's American Families Plan?
- Opportunities for Bipartisanship in a Divided Government
- President's Budget Gets Serious About Cutting Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Outside Reading
- IRS - Federal Tax Compliance Research: Tax Gap Estimates for Tax Years 2011–2013
- Treasury - The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda
- CBO - Trends in the Internal Revenue Service’s Funding and Enforcement
- USA Today - Former IRS commissioners: Biden's plan to invest in the IRS will pay off for taxpayers
- USA Today - Simplifying the Tax Code and Reducing the Tax Gap: What Can Be Achieved?
- American Progress - Unrigging the Economy Will Require Enforcing the Tax Laws
- Tax Policy Center - What is the tax gap?
- AEI - Tackle the tax gap
- National Bureau of Economic Research - Shrinking the Tax Gap: Approaches and Revenue Potential
- JCT - Overview of the Tax Gap
- GAO - Tax Gap Recommendations
- Treasury Inspector General - Understanding the Tax Gap
- Forman and Rossotti - ShrinkTheTaxGap.com