NONLINEAR TAX INCIDENCE AND OPTIMAL TAXATION IN GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM

Dominik Sachs, Aleh Tsyvinski and Nicolas Werquin

Munich Reprints in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study the incidence of nonlinear labor income taxes in an economy with a continuum of endogenous wages. We derive in closed form the effects of reforming non-linearly an arbitrary tax system, by showing that this problem can be formalized as an integral equation. Our tax incidence formulas are valid both when the underlying assignment of skills to tasks is fixed or endogenous. We show qualitatively and quantitatively that contrary to conventional wisdom, if the tax system is initially suboptimal and progressive, the general-equilibrium "trickle-down" forces may raise the benefits of increasing the marginal tax rates on high incomes. We finally derive a parsimonious characterization of optimal taxes.

Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (64)

Published in Econometrica 2 88(2020): pp. 469-493

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lmu:muenar:84782

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