You can request a hardcopy of this paper from our librarian, Gardner Neely . An amnesty typically allows individuals or firms to pay previously unpaid taxes without being subject to some or all of the financial and criminal penalties that the discovery of tax evasion normally brings. In the last twenty years, nearly forty states in the United States have enacted some form of tax amnesty, sometimes more than once. Many other countries have also used one or more amnesties.
Tax amnesties are a controversial revenue tool.
The obvious purpose of a tax amnesty is to raise short-run revenue. This may or may not work, and it can bring about expectations of future amnesties thereby reducing taxpayer compliance after the amnesty.