Heterogeneity and Government revenues: Higher taxes at the top?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Guner, Nezih; Lopez-Daneri, Martin; Ventura, Gustavo
• 署名单位: Autonomous University of Barcelona; ICREA; Barcelona School of Economics; University of Southern California; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2016.05.002
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 69-85
• 关键词: taxation; progressivity; labor supply

摘要

How effective is a more progressive tax scheme in raising revenues? We answer this question in a life-cycle economy with heterogeneity across households and endogenous labor supply. Our findings show that a tilt of the U.S. income tax schedule towards high earners leads to small increases in revenue. Maximal revenue in the long run is only 6.8% higher than in our benchmark - about 0.8% of initial GDP - while revenues from all sources increase by just about 0.6%. Our conclusions are that policy recommendations of this sort are misguided if the aim is to exclusively raise government revenue. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.