The Challenges of Modernizing Tax Administration: Putting Customers First in Coercive Public Organizations

Customer friendliness in tax systems typically characterized by control and enforcement appears to be a contradiction in terms. But many tax agencies, like other types of public organizations, have become more customer-oriented in the last few decades. This article, comparing the administration of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public policy and administration 2007-04, Vol.22 (2), p.155-182
Main Authors: Aberbach, Joel D., Christensen, Tom
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Norway
Public Administration
Reform
Taxation
United States of America
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Summary:Customer friendliness in tax systems typically characterized by control and enforcement appears to be a contradiction in terms. But many tax agencies, like other types of public organizations, have become more customer-oriented in the last few decades. This article, comparing the administration of tax systems in Norway and the USA, describes and analyzes the driving forces behind the consumer orientation movement in tax administration in the two nations and the dilemmas and effects of trying to balance control and service. Using a broad transformative perspective, we analyze structural and cultural changes in tax administration that are related to the increase in customer orientation and also consider the symbolic aspects of catering more to taxpayers. Norway and the USA have experienced similar structural reforms, but the two countries deviate rather sharply in other respects, particularly in the much larger impact of consumer-oriented reforms in the USA.
ISSN:0952-0767
1749-4192
DOI:10.1177/0952076707071501