The piece analyzes how limited tax literacy among small business owners and gig workers creates a costly “knowledge gap” that contributes to the wider U.S. tax gap and undermines compliance.
Key takeaways:
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Survey data show that many small businesses and gig workers lack basic tax knowledge (such as how to file, when to pay estimated taxes, and how self‑employment tax works), even though most respondents are college‑educated.
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Because they don’t understand core rules, many owners end up spending potential tax savings on paid preparers and still risk under‑ or non‑compliance, feeding into what Bruckner frames as a 496 billion‑dollar tax problem.
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The authors argue that the IRS alone cannot “audit or digitize” its way out of this gap; instead, they call for coordinated, tax‑inclusive financial literacy efforts across agencies and schools to reach small businesses and gig workers where they are.
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Read the paper.
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