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The choice of the personal income tax base

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  • Gordon, Roger H.
  • Kopczuk, Wojciech

Abstract

Starting with Vickrey (1945) and Mirrlees (1971), the optimal tax literature has studied the design of a personal income tax. The assumed ideal would be to tax earnings ability. Earnings ability is unobservable for tax purposes, however. Past papers have focused instead on designing a tax on labor income.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon, Roger H. & Kopczuk, Wojciech, 2014. "The choice of the personal income tax base," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 97-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:118:y:2014:i:c:p:97-110
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.07.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income tax; Tax base; Optimal taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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