Tax Compliance as a Wicked System

Abstract

This Article proposes a new typology and framework for tax compliance systems. Traditionally-competing approaches such as deterrence theory, behaviorist theory, and game theoretic models taken together suggest that tax compliance is perhaps a new type of system—a “wicked system”—that is only partially comprehensible by understanding the traditional theories alone. If correct, previously competing theories become simply different limiting cases of the same underlying “wicked system.” The Article concludes with a discussion of the framework’s limitations and presents initial solutions and challenges for future work.