When product markets are monopolistic, an income redistributive policy affects social welfare not only through changes in disposable income but also through changes in product prices. In the optimal income tax formula, we then obtain a Pigouvian term correcting for this price externality. We provide sufficient conditions when the Pigouvian term is progressive among top earners. Moreover, if the...

Do income taxes levied at a state or regional level affect the after-tax distribution of income? Or do workers merely move between regions, causing pre-tax wages to adjust? Using the full income tax parameters for all US states from 1977-2002, I create a “simulated tax redistribution index”, which captures the mechanical impact of changes in tax policy on the Gini coefficient, but is exogenous ...

between 3 and 5 administrative requirements. Themost common administrative requirement was to use a specific health department form (17 of 36 bills), followed by the requirement for the parent or guardian to receive education about vaccine risks and benefits (14 bills). Of 20 states with a current PBE, 5 (25%) saw a bill introduced to restrict exemptions and 1 (5%) saw a bill introduced to expa...

T he Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 86) marked an' important shift in Federal income tax policy. While previous tax acts provided incentives or disincentives for various business activities and industries, TRA 86 attempted to create a more "level playing field" by broadening the tax base and lowering tax rates. However, while TRA 86 reduced the direct effect of the Federal income tax on alternativ...

Abstract The literature on tax competition argues that the representative system (RTS), which is a standard form of base equalization, can internalize interregional externalities due to capital mobility. Although this conventional view holds when per unit imposed, it does not hold corporate income subject tax. This paper proposes an efficient equalization under each region’s evaluated by averag...

Presumptive taxes can be found in the tax system of most developing countries and make sense when the desired tax base is difficult to measure, verify, and monitor. As a substitute for the desired tax base, the presumed tax base is derived from items that can be more readily monitored. Presumed taxes can also be found in developed countries, and examples include fixed depreciation schedules in ...

We analyze the taxation of top personal incomes in Germany on the basis of an integrated data file of individual tax returns and a general household survey for the years 1992 2002. The unique feature of this integrated data set is that it includes all taxpayers in the top percentile of the gross income distribution. We show that despite substantial tax base erosion and significant reductions of...

Proposals for fundamental reform of the federal tax code are receiving increased attention in the business press and among economic analysts and policymakers. President Bush has identified tax reform as a top priority, calling for a tax system that is “pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all.” Moreover, the President has appointed a commission to consider different approaches to tax ref...