Article:
Richard L. Doernberg, The Case Against Withholding, 61 TEXAS L. REV. 595 (1982).
 

Abstract:
Many argue that our national system of taxation is voluntary, but such an argument ignores the economic realities of withholding. The federal government does not trust taxpayers to pay their taxes, just to calculate them. The Internal Revenue Service argues that withholding of taxes is the most efficient way to collect them, basing its argument on its costs to collect revenues. That argument, however, ignores the costs imposed on employers and taxpayers in the withholding process, who are responsible for the vast majority of the process and who face substantial penalties for noncompliance. Prof. Doernberg argues that those costs are extensive, and that withholding is not the most efficient means of collecting tax revenue.