Culture Change in Three Taxation Administrations: From Command-and-Control to Responsive Regulation

Law and policy is one thing, but their implementation and administration is affected by organizational cultures. Meidinger has argued that knowledge of regulatory and organizational cultures assists understanding of how law and policy work in practice. This article examines three revenue administrations that are moving from a command-and-control style of regulation to a more persuasive and responsive style of regulation. The central argument is that there is a determining step in the process of clarification, reconciliation, responsiveness, and design of a tax system. That step is the extent to which organizational culture can be changed to embrace inclusive discussion and creative solutions to the administration of tax law and policy.