Opinion: “The 30-Cent Tax Premium”

Monday, 18 April 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Collecting taxes, it turns out, is an expensive undertaking. Known as “tax compliance markup,” a guest column in the Wall Street Journal says whether paid directly to an accountant or paid in the time you spend preparing your own return, Americans spend about 30 cents for every dollar paid in taxes. Arthur B. Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research firm says that adds up to $431 billion each year and creates an industry that employs “more workers than Wal-Mart, UPS, McDonald’s, IBM and Citigroup combined.” Some view the markup as another tax unto itself, and an argument for a simpler tax code.