Taxpayer receipt

A taxpayer receipt is a proposed receipt given by government to taxpayers that would show the breakdown of the citizen's tax paid for areas such as social security, the military, education, veterans' benefits and health care. In many countries the data for tax division is publicly available, so the amount of taxes one has paid can be calculated by any taxpayer. Thus, regardless of whether countries implement taxpayer[where?] receipt, the same information is available, so some question whether the breakdown should be made available to citizens that are not prepared to calculate it themselves.

Research has found that taxpayer receipts may reduce political polarization with respect to taxation and government spending.

The 113th congress of the United States passed the Taxpayer's Receipt bill in August 2012. The aim of the bill was to resolve taxpayer concerns about the use of their money. Information in the bill gives exact details of the Taxpayer Receipt. The proposed bill is in the public domain and available on the web.

References

  1. ↑ "Taxpayer receipt: Is that all you get for your money". The Economist. 2010-10-01.
  2. ↑ "Tax Receipt: Your 2013 Federal Taxpayer Receipt", whitehouse.gov, 2013 – via National Archives
  3. ↑ Duhaime, Erik P.; Apfelbaum, Evan P. (2017), "Can Information Decrease Political Polarization? Evidence From the U.S. Taxpayer Receipt", Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8 (7): 736–745, doi:10.1177/1948550616687126, S2CID 151758489
  4. ↑ "HR3039: 113th Congress, House of Representatives", Govtrack.us, Civic Impulse, LLC, Aug 2, 2013

Further reading

  • Barnes Lucy, Feller Avi, Haselswerdt Jake, Porter Ethan. 2018. " Information, Knowledge, and Attitudes: An Evaluation of the Taxpayer Receipt." Journal of Politics 80 (2): 701 – 6. Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS WorldCat
  • Kendall, D. y J. Kessler (2010), “A Taxpayer Receipt”, Third Way, pp. 1-5, doi: papers2://publication/uuid/E3707D24-6B6A-42E8-9140-092313D11BFD.
  • Duhaime, E. P., & Apfelbaum, E. P. (2017). Can information decrease political polarization? Evidence from the U.S. taxpayer receipt. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8 (7), 736 – 745. doi: 10.1177/1948550616687126
  • Sebastian SJ. Management Report: Improvements Needed in IRS’s Internal Controls: GAO-03-562R. GAO Reports. May 2003:1. Accessed May 4, 2025. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=18214785&site=eds-live&scope=site