In a cross-border takeover, the tax base associated with future capital gains is transferred from target shareholders to acquirer shareholders. Cross-country differences in capital gains tax rates enable us to estimate the discount in the takeover price on account of future capital gains. The estimation suggests that a one percentage point increase in the capital gains tax rate reduces the valu...

This paper analyzes optimal progressive capital income taxation in the infinite horizon dynastic model. It shows that progressive taxation is a much more powerful and useful tool to redistribute wealth than linear taxation on which previous literature has focused. We consider progressive capital income tax schedules taking a simple two-bracket form with an exemption bracket at the bottom and a ...

This paper revisits the Atkinson–Stiglitz result on uselessness of commodity taxation in the presence of optimal non-linear income taxation in a more general setup, namely when tastes are heterogeneous. This general analysis displays the key economic assumptions under which the Atkinson–Stiglitz result is robust. A small tax on a given commodity is desirable if high income earners have a relati...

This paper deals with tax-policy responses to quasi-hyperbolic discounting. Earlier research on optimal paternalism typically abstracts from capital mobility. If capital is mobile between countries, it may no longer be possible for national governments to control domestic savings via capital taxation (as in a closed economy). In this paper, we take a broad perspective on public policy responses...

This paper shows that in a one-sector real business cycle model with strong increasing returns in production, progressive taxation of labor income can stabilize the economy against sunspot ‡uctuations, even when the capital tax schedule is ‡at. This result is consistent with the U.S. tax code in which labor-income taxation is more progressive than capital-income taxation.

This paper shows that there is a presumption that Pareto efficient taxation entails a positive tax on capital. When tax and expenditure policies can affect the market distribution of income, those effects need to be taken into account, reducing the burden imposed on distortionary redistribution. The paper extends the 1976 Atkinson-Stiglitz results to a dynamic, overlapping generations model, co...

Chapter Outline Designing Broad-Based Taxes: The Economic Objectives 171 Ability to Pay: Theoretical Considerations 173 Two Preliminary Considerations 173 Horizontal Equity 174 From Horizontal Equity to the Ideal Tax Base 174 The Three Principles of Tax Design 174 People Bear the Tax Burden 174 Individuals Sacrifice Utility 174 The Ideal Tax Base as the Best Surrogate Measure of Utility 175 Hai...

This paper studies optimum income taxation in a small open economy where households differ with respect to their endowments with wealth. The government raises taxes on income from labor and wealth and a source tax on capital used in domestic production. To avoid taxes, households may, at some cost, shift capital to labor income and vice versa. The government can only observe income after shifti...