[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/han/dpaper/dp-299.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A New Approach to Optimal Commodity Taxation

Author

Listed:
  • Homburg, Stefan
Abstract
This paper makes a fresh attempt at characterizing optimal commodity taxes. Under the usual assumptions, an extremely simple expression of second-best commodity taxes is derived, showing tax rates as functions of observable variables only, rather than as functions of unobservable variables such as compensated cross elasticities. The main formula is independent of special preferences, and independent of the number of commodities. It has a simple economic meaning and could be particularly useful for empirical research. Examples and remarks on the normalization problem are provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Homburg, Stefan, 2004. "A New Approach to Optimal Commodity Taxation," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-299, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    • Handle: RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-299
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://diskussionspapiere.wiwi.uni-hannover.de/pdf_bib/dp-299.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Myles,Gareth D., 1995. "Public Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521497695, September.
    2. Auerbach, Alan J., 1985. "The theory of excess burden and optimal taxation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 61-127, Elsevier.
    3. W. J. Corlett & D. C. Hague, 1953. "Complementarity and the Excess Burden of Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 21(1), pages 21-30.
    4. repec:bla:econom:v:54:y:1987:i:213:p:89-96 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Michael Smart, 2002. "Reforming the Direct–Indirect Tax Mix," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(2), pages 143-155, March.
    6. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421, Elsevier.
    7. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1972. "The structure of indirect taxation and economic efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 97-119, April.
    8. Sandmo, Agnar, 1990. "Tax Distortions and Household Production," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 78-90, January.
    9. David Coady & Jean Drèze, 2002. "Commodity Taxation and Social Welfare: The Generalized Ramsey Rule," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, May.
    10. Nicholas Stern, 1986. "A Note on Commodity Taxation: The Choice of Variable and the Slutsky, Hessian and Antonelli Matrices (SHAM)," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(2), pages 293-299.
    11. Mirrlees, J. A., 1976. "Optimal tax theory : A synthesis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 327-358, November.
    12. Angus Deaton, 1979. "The Distance Function in Consumer Behaviour with Applications to Index Numbers and Optimal Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 46(3), pages 391-405.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Homburg, Stefan, 2010. "Allgemeine Steuerlehre: Kapitel 1. Grundbegriffe der Steuerlehre," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 92547.
    2. Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2007. "The optimal commodity tax structure in a four-good model," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(6), pages 657-671, December.
    3. Ulrich van Suntum, "undated". "Income Taxes, Death Taxes, and Optimal Consumption-Leisure-Savings-Choice," Working Papers 200124, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    4. van Suntum, Ulrich, 2008. "Income taxes, death taxes, and optimal consumption-leisure-savings-choice," CAWM Discussion Papers 4, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Homburg, 2004. "A New Approach to Optimal Commodity Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 1231, CESifo.
    2. Homburg, Stefan, 2010. "Allgemeine Steuerlehre: Kapitel 1. Grundbegriffe der Steuerlehre," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 92547.
    3. Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2007. "The optimal commodity tax structure in a four-good model," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(6), pages 657-671, December.
    4. Claudio Agostini, "undated". "Tax Interdependence in the U.S. States," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv151, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    5. Odd E. Nygård & John T. Revesz, 2015. "Optimal indirect taxation and the uniformity debate: A review of theoretical results and empirical contributions," Discussion Papers 809, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    6. Claudio Agostini, 2004. "Tax Interdependence in American States," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 155, Econometric Society.
    7. Ming Chang, 1996. "Ramsey pricing in a hierarchical structure with an application to network-access pricing," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 281-314, October.
    8. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421, Elsevier.
    9. Junichi Minagawa & Thorsten Upmann, 2018. "Optimal taxation under a consumption target," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 50(4), pages 663-676, April.
    10. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2006. "The Theory of Optimal Taxation: What is the Policy Relevance?," EPRU Working Paper Series 06-07, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    11. Peter Sørensen, 2007. "The theory of optimal taxation: what is the policy relevance?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 14(4), pages 383-406, August.
    12. David Coady & Jean Dreze, 2000. "Commodity Taxation and Social Welfare: The Generalised Ramsey Rule," Working papers 87, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    13. Junichi Minagawa & Thorsten Upmann, 2016. "Optimal Taxation under a Consumption Target," CESifo Working Paper Series 6067, CESifo.
    14. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2007. "The Taxation of Couples," Discussion Papers 07/21, Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 2002. "Environmental taxation and regulation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1471-1545, Elsevier.
    17. Robert Fenge & Jakob Weizsäcker, 2010. "Mixing Bismarck and child pension systems: an optimum taxation approach," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 805-823, March.
    18. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1987. "Pareto efficient and optimal taxation and the new new welfare economics," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 991-1042, Elsevier.
    19. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Mark Rider, 1996. "A Revelation Approach To Optimal Taxation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 24(4), pages 439-463, October.
    20. Etro, Federico, 2016. "Research in economics and public finance," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 1-6.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal Commodity Taxation; Ramsey Rule;

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Heidrich, Christian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwhande.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.