Tax Evasion from a Policy Perspective: The Case of the Motor Fuels Tax

In recent years, many state legislatures have proposed, considered, and adopted legislation intended to thwart fuel tax evasion. Despite the recent political activity of state legislatures to increase fuel tax compliance, there is relatively little research examining the evasion of excise taxes in g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public administration review 2000-03, Vol.60 (2), p.163-172
Main Authors: Denison, Dwight V., Eger III, Robert J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Articles of Interest to Academicians and Practitioners
Compliance
Diesel fuels
Enforcement
Excise taxes
Federal Programs
Federal taxes
Fines & penalties
Fiscal policy
Fiscal years
Fraud
Fuel taxes
Fuels
Gasoline taxes
Income taxes
Institutional taxation
Investigations
Legislation
Legislatures
Medicare fraud
Motor fuels
Motors
Politics
Public administration
Public policy
Public services
Roads & highways
Sales taxes
Social policy
State government
State laws
Tax collections
Tax evasion
Tax exempt organizations
Tax exemptions
Tax fraud
Tax liabilities
Tax policy
Tax rates
Tax revenues
Taxation
Taxes
U.S.A
United States
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Description
Summary:In recent years, many state legislatures have proposed, considered, and adopted legislation intended to thwart fuel tax evasion. Despite the recent political activity of state legislatures to increase fuel tax compliance, there is relatively little research examining the evasion of excise taxes in general or the motor-fuel tax in particular. This article examines the issues of fuel tax evasion from a policy perspective. We discuss the vulnerability of the fuel tax to evasion and examine how state legislatures in the southern region have responded to the tax evasion issue. We focus the examination on four major initiatives implemented at the federal level in four broad policy areas: tax administration, penalties and punishments, liability, and visibility and enforcement. These findings provide important insight for developing new strategies to enhance compliance to the fuel tax in particular and excise taxes in general. Furthermore, we discuss how issues of fuel tax compliance can be extended to other compliance issues such as Medicare fraud.
ISSN:0033-3352
1540-6210
DOI:10.1111/0033-3352.00074