Consistent income tax structures when households are heterogeneous

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ebert, U; Moyes, P
• 署名单位: Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite de Bordeaux; Universite de Bordeaux
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1006/jeth.1999.2582
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 116-150
• 关键词: household composition; equivalence scales; income taxation; Lorenz dominance

摘要

The paper examines the redistributive impact of income taxation for heterogeneous populations. An equivalent income function is introduced in order to adjust the incomes of different types of households and the redistributive performance of the tax system is evaluated by comparing the Lorenz curves of the distributions of before and after tax equivalent incomes. Inequality reduction after tax imposes mild consistency conditions which are met by most current tax systems. If the inequality reducing effect of taxation is required to be independent of the reference household type, then the structure of the equivalent income function is fully determined by the inequality concept. Classification Numbers: D31, D63, H24. (C) 2000 Academic Press.