Increasing Tax Compliance in Washington State: A Field Experiment

This paper reports the results of a field experiment conducted in Washington State to improve compliance with the use tax and the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax. As part of the program, the Department of Revenue mailed letters that enhanced perceived detection risk and/or raised penalty awareness. Results indicated that the enforcement strategy produced a same-period improvement in use tax compliance. Subsequent year effects were not examined. Compliance with the B&O tax was unaffected.