Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features
Research report

Why Laws Sometimes Restrict Even When They Can't Be Fully Enforced

C. Eugene Steuerle
July 27, 1998
Download PDFPrint
Share

Primary tasks

  • Overview(active tab)
  • Full Report

Abstract

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the "gray area" in tax laws--he concludes that the law requires objective standards even when it is approximating subjective goals. Sometimes there are true dilemmas, so that any choice will raise some costs that we would just as soon avoid. An honest recognition of those dilemmas may not so much resolve them as reduce the constant demand that the law be changed continually in an attempt to remove the inevitable tension.

Research Area

Federal Budget and Economy
To reuse content from the Tax Policy Center, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.

Meet the Experts

  • C. Eugene Steuerle
    Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair
Brief

Understanding the Maze of Recent Child and Work Incentive Proposals

Elaine Maag, Nikhita Airi
June 1, 2020
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2020.