Income taxation and the choice of the tax rate schedule

  • In the history of economic thoughts the problem of a "just" tax rate structure has played an important role. The paper reconsiders the discussions of the last two centuries and sheds additional light on the concrete tax schedules using the more recent methods of tax theory. Even if the substitution effects which play an important role in the theory of optimal taxation are neglected, the slope in the diminishing marginal utility of income causes tax rate structures reaching from accelerated progression to delayed regression. Interestingly the principle of equal relative sacrifice combined with a Bernoulli utility function yields a delayed progression, which is connected with a negative income tax.

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Metadaten
Author details:Hans-Georg Petersen
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-53924
ISSN:0948-7549
ISSN:1864-1431
Title of parent work (German):Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge
Subtitle (English):sacrifice principles and "just" tax rates
Publication series (Volume number):Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge (62)
Publication type:Working Paper
Language:German
Publication year:2011
Publishing institution:Universität Potsdam
Release date:2011/09/28
Tag:cardinal utility function; income tax; sacrifice principle; tax rate schedule
Issue:62
Number of pages:27
Organizational units:Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Wirtschaftswissenschaften
DDC classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
JEL classification:B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches (Updated!) / B1 History of Economic Thought through 1925 / B13 Neoclassical through 1925
D Microeconomics / D3 Distribution / D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
H Public Economics / H2 Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / H21 Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
H Public Economics / H2 Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
License (German):License LogoKeine öffentliche Lizenz: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz
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