Taxpayers as Co-producers

Abstract

At first sight, income tax administration seems an unlikely arena for client co-production. For a start, the term ‘client’ seems inapposite for the people with whom the tax authority interacts at its business end: the taxpayers. When we think of a tax collection agency we think not of delighted customers but rather of people being compulsorily deprived of some of their income, and thereby losing rather than receiving value from the organisation.