INCREASING TAX COMPLIANCE IN WASHINGTON STATE: A FIELD EXPERIMENT

This paper reports the results of afield 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