This paper studies how simultaneously liberalizing trade and tightening environmental policy affect welfare in a second-best world. We consider a three-good two-factor small open economy. We allow for non-tradables and for market power in the export market. The government is constrained to balance its budget at all times through distortionary taxes: a given income transfer has to be financed ou...

Most jurisdictions exempt nonprofit firms from property, sales, and corporate income taxes in various industries, such as health care and education, in which both nonprofit and for-profit firms compete. Crosssection estimates using state tax data indicate that these exemptions significantly increase the market share of nonprofit firms vis-d-vis their for-profit counterparts. The relative market...

A tax buyout is a contract between tax authorities and a tax payer which reduces the marginal income tax rate in exchange for a lump-sum payment. While previous contributions have focussed on labour supply, we consider the interaction with tax evasion and show that a buyout can increase expected tax revenues. This will be the case if (1) the audit probability is constant and the penalty for eva...

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...

The principal objective of our research is to examine whether the earned income tax credit (EITC), a broad-based income support program that has been shown to increase employment and income among poor working families, also improves their health and access to care. A finding that the EITC has a positive impact on the health of the American public may help guide deliberations about its future at...

This paper analyzes optimal linear taxes on labor income and savings in a twoperiod 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) c...

We use experimental economics methods to better understand personal income tax compliance behavior when a portion of an individual’s income is relatively difficult to detect by the tax authority. Self-employment income represents a type of income that could be difficult to identify, in part because there is no third party to report such income to the tax authority. In this experiment, subjects ...

The literatures dealing with voting, optimal income taxation, and implementation are integrated here to address the problem of voting over income taxes. In contrast with previous articles, general nonlinear income taxes that affect the labor-leisure decisions of consumers who work and vote are allowed. Uncertainty plays an important role in that the government does not know the true realization...

This paper explores the effect of personal income taxes on redistribution when labour supply reactions are taken into consideration. The results indicate that the classical non-behavioural results on redistribution are not necessarily satisfied in a more general behavioural framework. In this respect, it is shown that the relevant transition to measure redistribution is not the transition from ...

Increases in Social Security taxes during the past decade or so have prompted frequent comparisons of Social Security taxes and Federal personal income taxes. In this article, new evidence is brought to bear on this issue. Two specific questions are addressed: For 1979, what percentage of family units paid more in Social Security tax than in Federal income tax? How did this relationship between...