Policy Forum: The Tax Gap from the Perspective of Tax Practitioners

The Canadian Tax Foundation, with assistance from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), organized a round table, held in Ottawa on June 6, 2017, to discuss the benefits, the drawbacks, and the many challenges that arise in estimating a tax gap. The round table was attended by senior staff members with deep knowledge and experience in this area, from a number of governments and government-sponsored agencies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Monetary Fund. Also in attendance were several prominent academics, a relatively small group of tax practitioners, and senior officials from the CRA. In this article, the authors, who participated in the round table, share the insight and knowledge they gained from listening to and reading about the experience of foreign and Canadian governments and agencies with tax gap estimation.