ON THE DESIGN OF A NEUTRAL BUSINESS TAX UNDER UNCERTAINTY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: BOND, SR; DEVEREUX, MP
• 署名单位: Keele University; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/0047-2727(94)01471-Y
• 发表日期: 1995
• 页码: 57-71
• 关键词: BUSINESS TAXES; TAX NEUTRALITY; uncertainty

摘要

This paper extends the results of Boadway and Bruce (Journal of Public Economics, 1984, 24, 231-239) and Fane (Journal of Public Economics, 1987, 33, 95-105) to describe a tax on business profits which is neutral with respect to investment and wind-up decisions, and default outcomes, under uncertainty and bankruptcy risk. The tax base allows deductions for depreciation and the cost of finance, but requires knowledge of neither true economic depreciation nor the firm's required rate of return. We show that the tax must treat taxable profits and losses symmetrically, and that the tax rate must be a known constant, even in the special case when the tax base coincides with the economic rent earned in each period.