Gamage & Shanske: Three Essays on Tax Salience

David Gamage (UC-Berkeley) & Darien Shanske (UC-Hastings), Three Essays on Tax Salience: Market Salience and Political Salience, 65 Tax L. Rev. 19 (2011):

This Article analyzes the literatures on how individuals understand taxation (i.e., “tax salience). We evaluate how taxpayers respond to different presentations of tax prices both in their roles as market participants and as voters. We aim to combat naïve notions about tax salience that currently exert a pernicious influence on tax lawmaking. In particular, we argue that it is normatively desirable for governments to reduce tax salience with respect to market decision making, and that there is nothing objectionable about governments reducing tax salience with respect to political decision making.