Is a tax amnesty a good tax policy? To address this question, this book examines whether a typical state tax amnesty is likely to generate substantial short term tax revenues without a corresponding significant negative effect on long run tax compliance. Although U.S. states have several motivations for implementing tax amnesties, the underlying objective boils down to raising tax revenues, either through the taxes collected immediately or through additions of new tax payers to the tax rolls and through an enlarged tax base. Are state tax amnesties successful in achieving this basic objective (i.e. bringing revenues to the state treasury that would not otherwise be collected)? This book revisits this critical question, given the significant fiscal crisis that many state governments have confronted since the turn of the twenty-first century.

Tax amnesties remain as popular as ever as a tool for raising revenue and increasing tax compliance. International experience, however, shows that the costs of tax amnesty programs often exceed the programs’ benefits. This paper weighs the advantages and disadvantages of tax amnesties, drawing on results from the theoretical literature, econometric evidence, and selected country and U.S. state case studies. The authors conclude that “successful” tax amnesties are the exception rather than the norm. Improvements in tax administration are the essential ingredient in addressing the main problems that tax amnesties seek to address. Indeed, the most successful amnesty programs rely on improving the tax administration’s enforcement capacity. ?Given the potential drawbacks of tax amnesties, a few alternative measures are discussed.

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The controversial assumption that underlies tax amnesties is that, at least in some situations, it is preferable to sacrifice the penalties for past non-compliance (and perhaps even the tax owing itself) in exchange for improved compliance in the future. Some commentators argue that tax amnesties actually undermine future compliance, because some taxpayers may be encouraged to engage in non-compliance in anticipation of future tax amnesty. Consequently, tax amnesties must be designed and implemented cautiously from a public policy perspective. The scope of this highly relevant book is impressive. It covers the experience with tax amnesties of a variety of countries, deals with the constitutionality, morality, and economic effects of tax amnesties, and discusses the compatibility of tax amnesties with international agreements, in particular, the Treaty of the European Community. As the renowned international tax expert Brian Arnold L71observes in the work's foreword: 'The book is an important contribution to the literature on tax amnesties, as there is no comparable source dealing with the topic . . . It is timely because the elimination of bank secrecy and the proliferation of Tax Information Exchange Agreements with tax havens have led several countries to adopt tax amnesty programs.