Method and apparatus for providing a seamless tiled display

A display for producing a seamless composite image from at least two discrete images. The display includes one or more projectors for projecting each of the discrete images separately onto a screen such that at least one of the discrete images overlaps at least one other of the discrete images by more than 25 percent. The amount of overlap that is required to reduce the seams of the composite image to an acceptable level over a predetermined viewing angle depends on a number of factors including the field-of-view and aperture size of the projectors, the screen gain profile, etc. For rear-projection screens and some front projection screens, an overlap of more than 25 percent is acceptable

The Report of the United States to the International Fiscal Association on the Costs of Tax Administration and Compliance

This is a report prepared for the International Fiscal Association on the costs of tax administration and compliance in the United States. At the federal level, we present comprehensive data on administrative costs and review recent estimates of compliance costs. At the state level, we present new data on the administrative costs of state income taxes and general sales taxes, and review the very limited data on state level compliance costs. We also discuss the growing role of tax preparers, including new empirical results of our own. Finally, we review the recently enacted "Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

State Income Tax Amnesties 1: Causes

The purpose of this paper is to analyze empirically for the years 1980-88 the factors which led states with state income taxes to run tax amnesty programs. We find a principal factor to be the level of IRS auditing; in particular, we find that states have tended to "free-ride" on the IRS-if the IRS is active in a state, then that state is less likely to run a tax amnesty program. Indeed, our estimates indicate that had the IRS audit rate remained constant during the 1980-88 period (instead of falling by almost one-half) , then the cumulative probability that an average state would have a tax amnesty by 1988 would have fallen by almost one-half compared to its actual level

The Effect of Tax and Audit Rates on Compliance with the Federal Income Tax, 1977-85

This paper develops a game-theoretic model of the effects of state and federal income tax rates and audit rates on compliance with the federal income tax. Using data drawn primarily from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the years 1977-85, we find empirical confirmation of the model's prediction that increases in the tax rates increase compliance. We also investigate the overall performance of the federal revenue collection process and find that the entire IRS estimate of the increase in individual noncompliance during 1977-85 is more than accounted for by the decrease in auditing over the same period

State income tax amnesties: Causes

This paper analyzes empirically for the years 1980-1988 the factors that led states with state income taxes to run tax amnesty programs. We find that the potential yield from an amnesty is more important than the fiscal status of a state. Furthermore, we estimate that if the IRS audit rate had remained constant during the 1980-1988 period (instead of falling by almost one half), then the cumulative probability that an average state would have had a tax amnesty by 1988 would have fallen by just over 25 percent

The Effect of Audit Rates on Federal Income Tax Filings and Collections, 1977-1986

This paper analyzes the effects of audit rates and certain other factors on federal income tax filings and collections. Using data drawn primarily from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the years 1977-1986, we investigate the overall performance of the federal revenue collection process and estimate that total IRS collections in 1986 would have risen by approximately forty billion dollars had the federal audit rate remained constant at its 1977 level during the intervening period

The demand for tax return preparation services

We analyze taxpayer choices of return preparation services. We distinguish between two types of nonpaid preparers, six types of paid third parties, and self-preparation. Among other things, we find significant differences in the factors which explain the demand for paid third parties who are and are not able to represent clients before the IRS. Among these factors are increases in IRS audit rates and the frequency of IRS penalties

Are We a Nation of Tax Cheaters? New Econometric Evidence on Tax Compliance

In 1982, then Commissioner of Internal Revenue Roscoe Egger reported to Congress that legal sector noncompliance with the Federal Income Tax statutes generated an income tax gap of $81 billion in 1981, up from$29 billion in 1973. He further projected a gap of $120 billion for 1985 (U.S. Congress, 1982). Perceptions of accelerating noncompliance inspired a crisis mentality within the Internal Revenue Service, Congress, and the tax bar. The IRS responded in part by funding a major independent study of tax noncompliance via the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Bar Foundation initiated an investigation of its own in 1984. Congress enacted compliance legislation in 1981, 1982, and 1984, and completely overhauled the federal income tax laws in 1986. These enactments added a wide variety of new penalties for noncompliance and strengthened others, dramatically expanded requirements for third-party reporting of information to the IRS, added to the IRS\u27s arsenal of procedural weapons, and adopted everyone\u27s favorite vehicle to combat noncompliance – lower tax rates

Quantification of Cell Movement Reveals Distinct Edge Motility Types During Cell Spreading

Actin-based motility is central to cellular processes such as migration, bacterial engulfment, and cancer metastasis, and requires precise spatial and temporal regulation of the cytoskeleton. We studied one such process, fibroblast spreading, which involves three temporal phases: early, middle, and late spreading, distinguished by differences in cell area growth. In these studies, aided by improved algorithms for analyzing edge movement, we observed that each phase was dominated by a single, kinematically and biochemically distinct cytoskeletal organization, or motility type. Specifically, early spreading was dominated by periodic blebbing; continuous protrusion occurred predominantly during middle spreading; and periodic contractions were prevalent in late spreading. Further characterization revealed that each motility type exhibited a distinct distribution of the actin-related protein VASP, while inhibition of actin polymerization by cytochalasin D treatment revealed different dependences on barbed-end polymerization. Through this detailed characterization and graded perturbation of the system, we observed that although each temporal phase of spreading was dominated by a single motility type, in general cells exhibited a variety of motility types in neighboring spatial domains of the plasma membrane edge. These observations support a model in which global signals bias local cytoskeletal biochemistry in favor of a particular motility type

Are we a Nation of Tax Cheaters? New Econometric Evidence on Tax Compliance

The theoretical basis for the economic approach to tax compliance has, at least until recently, been inadequate, and the limited empirical work based on it is seriously flawed. In this paper we briefly review both, as well as new theoretical and, especially, empirical work on the tax compliance problem. With respect to the latter we present preliminary results based cm a state-level, time-series, cross-section data set drawn in part from the annual reports of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue