Sales and Income Tax Data Collected Comparability: Quarterly vs. Annual Surveys

• Activity Number: 128 - Impact of Data Collection Modes and Data Sources
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, July 31, 2017 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Dedrick Owens*
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Sales Tax ; Income Tax ; Annual ; Quarterly ; Comparable

Abstract

In this research, we consider whether sales and income tax data collected in the Public Sector Quarterly Tax Survey (QTAX) is comparable to that collected in Annual Survey of Local Government Finance (ALFIN). Ideally, the sales tax collected from QTAX in a year should be similar to that of ALFIN. The key element in assessing this question is the source(s) from which respective surveys obtain their data. As it stands, the collection sources are very different---QTAX data represents responses from state government representatives and ALFIN from state level annual reports or administrative records. In this research, we investigate the magnitude of the differences and discuss how to improve the data quality.