Nina Olson: A Champion for Taxpayer-Centered Tax Administration

Abstract

This is an essay for an upcoming issue of the Pittsburgh Tax Review dedicated to exploring the impact of the work of the former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson.In the essay, I argue that to appreciate Nina's impact, we must to step back and examine the broader themes from her many reports, recommendations, and pages of testimony. In this essay, I focus on two of her works as a window into the foundational principles of Nina’s thinking on tax administration. The first is her 2010 Griswold lecture where she discussed the relationship between constitutional due process and tax administration. The second is her article exploring the relationship between the IRS’s EITC compliance strategy and taxpayer rights. Lest this brief essay be only thought of as reminiscing, I conclude by connecting some foundational principles in Nina’s writing to a recent article by Professor Jason Parkin on the state of procedural due process, an issue central to understanding the origins and likely future impact of Nina’s work.

Keywords: Tax administration, procedural due process, procedural justice, taxpayer rights, earned income tax credit

JEL Classification: K34, K23