Linear Tax Research Articles

Optimal Linear Commodity Taxation Under Optimal Non-Linear Income Taxation

This paper analyzes optimal linear commodity taxes joint with non-linear income taxes. We provide optimal tax rules based on empirically observable elasticities. We demonstrate that commodities should be taxed/subsidized if doing so boosts labor supply. The critical role of commodity taxation is to alleviate distortions on labor supply caused by income taxation. In addition, we extend the standard formula for optimal non-linear income taxation for the presence of optimal linear commodity taxes. We correct parts of the literature that suggest that the optimal tax rules for commodity taxes derived by Atkinson and Stiglitz (1976, 1980) apply as well to linear tax commodity taxes. We show that the optimal second-best allocation cannot be implemented with linear commodity taxes and non-linear income taxes.

Voting under temptation

Within the confines of linear tax and complete market, we show that the efficiency force for a negative capital tax may not be strong enough to reverse the politico-economic force for a positive redistributive taxation under temptation and self-control preferences.

Optimal progressive capital income taxes in the infinite horizon model

This paper analyzes optimal progressive capital income taxation in an infinite horizon model where individuals differ only through their initial wealth. We consider progressive capital income tax schedules taking a simple two-bracket form with an exemption bracket at the bottom and a single marginal tax rate above a time varying exemption threshold. Individuals are taxed until their wealth is reduced down to the exemption threshold. The fraction of individuals subject to capital income taxation vanishes to zero in the long-run in analogy to the zero long-run capital tax result of Chamley and Judd with optimal linear taxes. However, in contrast to linear taxation, optimal nonlinear capital taxation can have a drastic impact on the long-run wealth distribution. When the intertemporal elasticity of substitution is not too large and the top tail of the initial wealth distribution is infinite and thick enough, the optimal exemption threshold converges to a finite limit. As a result, the optimal tax system drives all the large fortunes down a finite level and produces a truncated long-run wealth distribution.

Does tax convexity matter for risk? A dynamic study of tax asymmetry and equity beta

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of tax convexity on firms’ market risk, where tax convexity measures the progressivity of firms’ tax function. We examine the relation between equity beta and tax convexity based on a standard contingent-claims model, in which firms face nonlinear tax schedules. We verify that in the presence of default and growth options, the effect of tax convexity on beta is significant and depends on several countervailing forces. Tax convexity has a direct, positive effect on beta, as well as two indirect countereffects through default and growth options. The overall effect is ambiguous and quantitatively significant. As asymmetric tax schedules are used in most countries, assuming a linear tax schedule in the valuation framework may misestimate beta and thus fail to assess risk accurately. Our theoretical model shows that tax convexity should be taken into consideration when estimating equity beta.

On the desirability of taxing capital income in optimal social insurance

This paper analyzes optimal linear taxes on labor income and savings in a two-period life-cycle model with ex ante identical households, endogenous leisure demands in both periods, and general processes of skill shocks over the life cycle. We demonstrate that the Atkinson–Stiglitz theorem breaks down under risk. Capital taxes are employed besides labor income taxes for two distinct reasons: i) capital taxes reduce labor supply distortions on second-period labor supply, since second-period labor supply and saving are substitutes, ii) capital taxes insure first-period income risk, although this benefit is partially off-set because first-period labor supply and saving are complements. Our results imply that (retirement) saving should not be actuarially fair.

Sweet and Not-So-Sweet Charity

In order to maximize social welfare, governments should subsidize at different rates the private contributions made to different categories of charitable or publicly beneficial civic activity. This prescription stands in contrast to the standard practice of subsidizing such contributions uniformly and suggests the need to evaluate not only that practice but also the diverse initiatives of several governments to subsidize at higher rates certain contributions made to certain categories. The case for differential subsidies is made here with reference to a model in which the government chooses the subsidies and amounts of direct funding, as well as a personal transfer and linear taxes on earnings and consumption. The categories differ in terms of the individuals contributing, the individuals receiving the charitable goods and services, and the effectiveness of direct funding relative to contributions. A linear expenditure system illustrates the restrictive conditions necessary for uniform contribution subsidies being optimal.

Optimal Taxation, Child Care and Models of the Household

This paper presents for the first time the properties of optimal piecewise linear tax systems for two-earner households, based on joint and individual incomes respectively. A key contribution is the analysis of the interaction of second earner wage differences, variation in prices of bought-in inputs into household production in the form of child care, and domestic productivity differences as determinants of across-household heterogeneity in second earner labour supply. The analysis highlights the importance of the elasticity of substitution between parental and non-parental child care in determining the relationship between utility and income across households. A central result is that taking account of a richer and more realistic specification of household time use widens the set of cases in which individual taxation is welfare-superior to joint taxation.

The least core in fixed-income taxation models: a brief mathematical inspection

Abstract For models of majority voting over fixed-income taxations, we mathematically define the concept of least core. We provide a sufficient condition on the policy space such that the least core is not empty. In particular, we show that the least core is not empty for the framework of quadratic taxation, respectively piecewise linear tax schedules. For fixed-income quadratic taxation environments with no Condorcet winner, we prove that for sufficiently right-skewed income distribution functions, the least core contains only taxes with marginal-rate progressivity.

Laffer effect, gross substitution, marginal cost of public funds and the level property of public good provision

This paper examines the Laffer effect in the Ramsey tax-model with linear consumption taxes and a representative consumer. It is assumed that the private goods and the public good are weakly separable. It is demonstrated that if all of the private goods are weak gross complements to each other, then the Laffer effect does not exist, in other words, higher tax rates can always achieve more tax revenue. In contrast, if all of the private goods are strict gross substitutes, then the Laffer effect does exist. Moreover, if all of the private goods are weak gross substitutes, then the government cannot fully acquire the leisure endowment through taxes on consumption goods. We also show that gross substitution works to raise the marginal cost of public funds.

On Income and Wealth Taxation in a Life‐Cycle Model with Extensive Labour Supply

In a stationary life-cycle model with extensive labour supply, two forms of taxation are studied: non-linear income taxation and linear wealth taxation. In the life-cycle model, the social weights of the dynasties depend on their permanent incomes, not on the observed taxable current income. A tax on wealth then can complement income tax as a redistributive tool. The derivative of social welfare with respect to the wealth tax rate at the no-tax point is computed. It is positive whenever permanent income is positively correlated with aggregate life time savings. This result is illustrated on a numerical example.

A Theoretical and Practical Study on Linear Reforms of Dual Taxes

We extend the linear reforms introduced by Pf¨ahler (1984) to the case of dual taxes. We study the relative effect that linear dual tax cuts have on the inequality of income distribution -a symmetrical study can be made for dual linear tax hikes-. We also introduce measures of the degree of progressivity for dual taxes and show that they can be connected to the Lorenz dominance criterion. Additionally, we study the tax liability elasticity of each of the reforms proposed. Finally, by means of a microsimulation model and a considerably large data set of taxpayers drawn from 2004 Spanish Income Tax Return population, 1) we compare different yield-equivalent tax cuts applied to the Spanish dual income tax and 2) we investigate how much income redistribution the dual tax reform (Act ‘35/2006’) introduced with respect to the previous tax.

Optimal Taxation and Tax Reform for Two-Earner Households

This paper is concerned with the question of how two-earner households should be taxed. One reason for the importance of this issue is simply the quantitative signi…cance of households formed around couples. A second reason is that the economic theory of optimal taxation and tax reform, at least as it is presented in the mainstream literature, provides little guidance on this issue, resting as it does on models of the single person household. An old insight in the earlier public …nance literature is that any discussion of the taxation of two-person households necessarily involves the recognition of the importance of household production. In this paper we analyse optimal linear taxation and tax reform to put the conventional wisdom, which says that it is optimal to tax women on a separate, lower tax schedule than men, on a …rmer basis. We also discuss some recent literature on the nonlinear taxation of two-earner households. What emerges clearly from the analysis is how centrally important the relationship between productivity in household production and female labour supply really is, and how little we know about it empirically.

Optimal Taxation and Constrained Inefficiency in an Infinite-Horizon Economy with Incomplete Markets

We study the dynamic Ramsey problem of finding optimal public debt and linear taxes on capital and labor income within a tractable infinite horizon model with incomplete markets. With zero public expenditure and debt, it is optimal to tax the risky labor income and subsidize capital, while a positive amount of public debt is welfare improving. A steady state optimality condition is derived which implies that the tax on capital is positive, when savings are sufficiently inelastic to returns. A calibration of our model to the US economy indicates positive optimal taxes and a small but positive optimal debt level.

Taxing Human Capital Efficiently When Qualified Labour is Mobile

The paper studies the effect that skilled labour mobility has on efficient education policy. The model is one of two periods in which a representative taxpayer decides on labour, education, and saving. The government can only use linear tax and subsidy instruments. It is shown that the mobility of skilled labour well constrains government’s choice of policy instruments. The mobility does not however affect second best education policy in allocational terms. In particular, education should be effectively subsidized if, and only if, the elasticity of the earnings function is increasing in education. This rule applies regardless of whether labour is mobile or immobile.

Tax policy and the missing middle: Optimal tax remittance with firm-level administrative costs

We analyze the optimal taxation of firms when the government faces fixed (per-firm) administrative costs of tax collection. The tax instruments at the government's disposal are a fixed (per-firm) fee and a linear tax on output. If all firms in an industry are taxed, we show that it is optimal to impose a positive fee to internalize administrative costs. The output taxes satisfy the inverse elasticity rule for taxed industries, but industries with sufficiently high administrative costs should be exempted from taxation. We also investigate the case where firms with outputs below a cutoff level can be exempted from taxation. It may be optimal to set the cutoff high enough to exempt a sizable number of firms, even though some firms reduce their outputs to the cutoff level, creating a “missing middle”: small and large firms – but not those of intermediate size – exist. Thus, this common phenomenon in developing countries may result from optimal policies. The paper also presents a modified inverse-elasticity rule when output cutoffs are used, and it extends the analysis to include optimal nonlinear taxes on output.

Nonpoint pollution regulation targeted on emission proxies: the role of yardstick schemes

The subject of our paper is the regulation of nonpoint pollution targeted on emissions proxies. We consider n risk-averse sources controlling multiple pollutants, and develop a yardstick competition scheme where the regulatory mechanism depends on the difference between a source’s aggregate performance and the average aggregate performance of all regulated sources. Whether this instrument dominates unit emission taxes depends on the complete structure of the covariance matrix of the common random terms in measured pollution. Moreover, if the number of sources is large enough, the yardstick scheme is always superior to the linear taxation scheme.

Voting over piece-wise linear tax methods

Abstract We analyze the problem of choosing the most appropriate method for apportioning taxes in a democracy. We consider a simple theoretical model of taxation and restrict our attention to piece-wise linear tax methods, which are almost ubiquitous in advanced democracies worldwide. We show that if we allow agents to vote for any method within a rich domain of piece-wise linear methods, then a majority voting equilibrium exists. Furthermore, if most voters have income below mean income then each method within the domain can be supported in equilibrium.

ENTREPRENEURIAL LABOR AND CAPITAL TAXATION

This paper considers a Ramsey model of linear taxation for an economy with capital and two kinds of labor. If the government cannot distinguish between the return from capital and the return from entrepreneurial labor, then there will be positive capital income taxation, even in the long run. This happens because the only way to tax entrepreneurial labor is by also taxing capital. Furthermore, under fairly general conditions, the optimal tax on observable labor income is higher than the capital tax, although both are strictly positive. Thus, even though both income taxes are positive, imposing uniform income taxation would lead to additional distortions in the economy.

Income Tax Incidence with Positive Population Growth

This paper derives the incidence of linear taxes on capital and labor in a competitive equilibrium in balanced growth. The paper further considers a tax on consumption and a tax credit. Tax incidence is determined using an analytic expression for the saving rate out of income net of all taxes and credits. Results for zero population growth do not extend to positive population growth, where the incidence of a tax on interest income is positive and a tax on consumption reduces the interest rate.

Optimal linear taxation under endogenous longevity

This paper studies the optimal linear tax-transfer policy in an economy where agents differ in productivity and in genetic background and where longevity depends on health spending and genes. If agents internalize imperfectly the impact of health spending on longevity, the utilitarian optimum can be decentralized with type-specific lump-sum transfers and Pigouvian taxes correcting for agents’ myopia and for their misperception of health spending’s effects on the economy’s resources. The second-best problem is examined under linear taxation instruments. It may be optimal to tax health spending, especially under complementarity of genes and health spending in the production of longevity.