How to Hate Taxes a Little Bit Less (Ep. 400 Replay)

Freakonomics Radio

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Every year, Americans short the I.R.S. nearly half a trillion dollars. Most ideas to increase compliance are more stick than carrot — scary letters, audits, and penalties. But what if we gave taxpayers a chance to allocate how their money is spent, or even bribed them with a thank-you gift?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
0:06.1	In the US, where Frekenomics Radio is based, we are approaching a special day.
0:11.3	Millions of people in the US are getting ready to file income tax returns, but the thought
0:15.6	of doing it can be daunting.
0:18.6	If only there were a way to make tax paying a bit more enjoyable, perhaps even meaningful.
0:24.3	That's the theme of the episode you're about to hear.
0:27.0	It's an update for the show we first published a few years ago.
0:30.6	It's called How to Hate Taxes A Little Bit Less.
0:34.3	Hope you enjoy.
0:38.2	I never thought people would give money to government voluntarily.
0:42.3	I ran this experiment to show that.
0:47.6	Katherine Eccle is an economist at Texas A&M University.
0:51.2	But then it turned out that people will give money to government voluntarily.
0:55.2	If they support what the government is doing.
0:57.7	Just to be clear, Eccle is talking about people giving money to the government above and
1:01.2	beyond what they owe in Texas.
1:03.3	This experiment she ran has some history.
1:06.1	So in the 1990s, my collaborator, Phil Grossman and I, we were looking at the experimental
1:11.5	research on what are called dictator games.
1:14.6	Dictator games had grown out of another lab game called Ultimatum, which in turn grew
1:19.2	out of a famous Game Theory experiment called the Prisoner's Dilemma.
1:23.0	Anyway, in the dictator game.
	...

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