How to think about race and administrative burdens

Administrative burdens limit access to resources and generate negative experiences of government. A related concern is that these burdens reinforce patterns of inequality. Indeed, the first formal guidance the the Biden administration offered on reducing administration burdens was in an executive order on racial equity. This reflects the obvious normative concern that state actions should not systematically exclude or generate worse experiences for some groups relative to others.

There is also the empirical question of how, and to what degree, this happens in practice. While not pretending to offer a comprehensive account of the topic, my views on the relationship between race and burdens reflect what I’ve learned through my research, and I’m going to share some recent examples, as well as a positive story about how the IRS has committed to reducing racialized burdens in the tax system.