Recent empirical evidence has shown that nominal wages are more rigid among blue-collar (low income) workers than among white-collar (high income) workers. We show theoretically that employees in crisis-ridden firms will reject wage cut proposals that save jobs if risk aversion is great, replacement rates high and marginal taxes low. These factors for can explain why wage rigidity is less inten...

a r t i c l e i n f o JEL classification: E62 H22 O41 Keywords: Two-sector model Human capital Optimal factor tax incidence This paper studies the optimal factor tax incidence in a standard two-sector, human capital-based endoge-nous growth model elucidated by Lucas (1988). Capital income taxes generate dynamic inefficiency for capital accumulation and labor income taxes create dynamic ineffici...

This paper analyzes whether a dividend tax cut for owner–managers of closely held corporations encourages income shifting, income generation, or both. We use rich, micro data from Sweden for the period 2000–2011 comprising the entire Swedish population, as well as firmand individual-level data for all owner–managers in closely held corporations, partnerships, and self-employed. We find robust e...

We develop an algorithm for computing optimal taxes in an open economy extension of the standard one-sector growth model. Typically in the literature on optimal taxation, the first period tax rate is arbitrarily assumed. We construct an example where the first period tax rate is endogenously determined. In addition to computing the exact time path of taxes, the example brings forth some interes...

The issue addressed in this paper is the optimal taxation of incomes earned tn the home economy, and of incomes earned abroad, when people can migrate. As a preliminary, the optimal taxation of home incomes when there is migration and no taxation of foreign incomes, is discussed. Then in a more general setting, we deal with optimal taxation of different kinds of labour when another kind of labo...

We illustrate a proposal to reform the personal income tax and the family allowance in Italy which aims at attaining a fair tax treatment of the family, laying emphasis on the redistributive processes in favour of large and poor households. Our proposal is based on a simplification of the tax rate schedule (with a reduction of income brackets) and a new design of the tax credits for dependents ...

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...

This paper use income tax return data from 1960 to 2000 to analyze the link between reported incomes and marginal tax rates. Only the top 1% incomes show evidence of behavioral responses to taxation. The data displays striking heterogeneity in the size of responses to tax changes overtime, with no response either short-term or long-term for the very large Kennedy top rate cuts in the early1960s...

Traditional economic analysis implies that because the net externalities from tobacco use are small and tobacco taxes are borne disproportionately by lower-income individuals, taxes on tobacco products should be relatively low. We reexamine these arguments in the framework of a more accurate model of human behavior, where in each period a person has a taste for immediate gratification she would...

This paper examines elements of British tax policy and discusses their implications for the US, where several recent proposals would mirror aspects of the British system. These include reducing filing requirements under the individual income tax, indexing capital gains for inflation, cutting mortgage interest deductions, enacting a value added tax, and integrating the corporate and personal inc...