Friday, October 14, 2011
TIGTA: 10,300 Businesses (Not Projected 25,000) Paid 10% ObamaCare Tanning Tax
The number of taxpayers filing tanning services excise tax returns is much lower than expected. According to IRS documents, in April 2010, the Indoor Tanning Association estimated that 25,000 businesses were providing indoor tanning services. However, the actual number of businesses liable for the tax has been difficult to determine with any degree of accuracy. Identifying these taxpayers has been one of the more challenging tasks the IRS has faced when implementing this provision. For the first three applicable quarters, the number of Federal excise tax forms reporting tanning taxes has averaged approximately 10,300.
- Bloomberg, Tanning Tax Income Pales Compared With Estimate, Audit Finds
- Forbes, Treasury Finds Tanning Tax Collections Lacking
- USA Today, Underdone: Tanning Tax Revenue Falls Short of Estimates
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/10/tigta-10300-businesses-not-projected-25000-paid-10-obamacare-tanning-tax.html
This story illustrates an issue I have with the "scoring" of legislation for revenue estimates and tax expenditure analysis for Federal budgeting. Have there been any empirical studies showing how much revenue is actually generated versus revenue projections for particular legislation? I posit that such studies would show, in the main, that the actual revenue received is so drastically different from that projected as to make the process look like nothing more than a charade. I challenge all these tax law professors writing about how we need more and better taxes to instead do some actual research and analyze this issue.
Posted by: TexEcon | Oct 14, 2011 7:46:57 AM