Abstract An unsettled issue in the current tax reform debate is whether complexity and equity are complementary or competing features of the income tax system. This study attempts to increase understanding of this relationship by using multidimensional scaling to investigate whether taxpayers' perceptions of complexity are independent of ideas traditionally associated with equity. Thirty prospective jurors were asked to compare the complexity of tax scenarios and then rate these scenarios, using bipolar complexity and equity descriptors. The results indicate that subjects view complexity and equity as incompatible features of the income tax system. Since this view appears to be independent of demographic and attitudinal data collected on the subjects, there may be a general perception across taxpayers that simplifying the tax law is consistent with improving equity.
Valerie C. Milliron (Sun,) studied this question.