Redesigning Tax Forms

Guest: Joseph Bankman, professor of law and business at Stanford University and an expert in the field of tax law Tax forms are notoriously confusing and getting help from the IRS is increasingly rare. The commissioner of the IRS said this week customer service at the agency is abysmal, due to budget cuts: six out of every ten people who call the IRS for help can't even get through to a representative. While the experience is painful for taxpayers, it's also costing the government a lot of money. Stanford University law and business professor Joseph Bankman says that redesigning the tax forms to be simpler and more direct would encourage people to be more truthful in their filing and cut down on the more than $400 billion the government loses to tax evaders each year.