FEDERALhearing transcript

Congressional Hearing: The Economic Impact of Tax Code Complexity

Original title: IS OUR COMPLEX CODE TOO TAXING ON THE ECONOMY?

January 1, 2016

taxation economic policy tax code complexity congressional hearings

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The Frame

What this does

This hearing documents the legislative record regarding the administrative burden of the U.S. tax code, which impacts how millions of Americans and businesses manage their financial records and tax filings.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Individual Taxpayers

Taxpayers must navigate complex tax laws and often incur costs for professional preparation or software.

Business Owners

Business owners must maintain records and make operational decisions based on tax code requirements.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2016.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing on April 20, 2016, to examine how the complexity of the U.S. tax code affects the economy and individual taxpayers. Witnesses and committee members discussed the administrative burden of tax compliance and the influence of tax regulations on personal and business decision-making.

Key Facts

The hearing took place on April 20, 2016, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The U.S. tax code, including regulations and court decisions, totaled over 74,000 pages in 2014.
Approximately 90 percent of taxpayers use a tax preparer or tax software to file their returns.
Tax Freedom Day in 2016 occurred on April 24.
The 2015 version of the tax code publication reduced its physical page count by shrinking the font size rather than reducing the number of laws.
The committee received prepared statements and reports from four expert witnesses regarding tax code complexity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tax Freedom Day?

It is a date representing when the average taxpayer has earned enough money to pay their total tax obligation for the year and can begin earning for themselves.

Why did the tax code publication get smaller in 2015?

According to Chairman Coats, the publisher reduced the font size because the volume of tax laws and regulations could no longer fit into the previous binder format.

Why It Matters

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Tax Code Physicality

The document highlights a unique instance where the physical size of the tax code was reduced via font size rather than legislative simplification.

Daniel Coats

Connected Entities

personCarolyn B. Maloney“Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee and U.S. Representative from New ”Map →

organizationJoint Economic Committee“Congressional committee hosting the hearing”Map →

personArthur B. Laffer“Witness, Chairman of Laffer Associates”Map →

personJoseph Grossbauer“Witness, President and CEO of GGNet Technologies”Map →

personJared Bernstein“Witness, Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities”Map →

personDaniel Coats“Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and U.S. Senator from Indiana”Map →

personScott A. Hodge“Witness, President of the Tax Foundation”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance40
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy20
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment10
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz5
Current news / social attention level

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