(Gosling, 2006)
Five criteria for evaluating a tax
Yield in relation to costs of administration
to generate revenue to support the operations and programmatic activities of government
those that provide high yields at low administrative costs are most preferred (assuming
Connection between efficiency and incidence (Fisher, 2007)
The only way to avoid a tax is to change your behavior
If there is no change in behavior, there is no efficiency loss, and the burden of the tax is that person whom the tax is imposed on
It does not matter who the tax is levied on
the efficiency cost of a
Auerbach (1993)
tax yield and equity and efficiency
He argues that revenue estimate is very imprecise and economist would prefer to provide a margin of error with each estimate, but decision makers do not like confidence internals
It is also hard to estimate a change in
Hubbard (1999)
tax incidence
He argues that the use of distribution tables can be very useful to policy makers
He demonstrates that tables can be very different depending on:
which taxes are included
definition of income
the underlying assumptions used
which type of inc
Engen and Skinner (1999)
efficiency
The authors examine the relationship between taxation and economic growth
They suggest five ways tax cuts could increase economic growth
lower taxes can encourage investment (growth in capital stock)
lower taxes can increase the labor supply (e
Agell, Englund, and Sodersten (1999)
Efficiency
The author examined the effect of tax reform in Sweden in the early 1990s. It was called the "tax reform" of the century
They found that the short-run costs of the tax reform were very high
they argued that a slower phase-in process of the refo
Auerbach (1999)
efficiency
he argues that it is difficult for economic research to provide clear and precise information about the economic impacts of tax policy changes
much of what we "know" about the effects of tax reforms is really based primarily on economic theory,
Kaplow (1999)
compliance and optimal taxation
he argues that the standard optimal taxation analysis framework ignores the equity and efficiency effects that arise because taxes must be collected (compliance costs and administration costs)
standard optimal taxation fram
Winer and Hettich (1999)
political feasibility
current work on positive and normative research on tax policy has omitted collective choice, which limits our understanding of tax policy
a lot of the positive and normative tax literature assumes either there a "good" social planner
Poterba (1999)
public choice and political feasibility
He say some argue that economic analysis should focus on evaluating and providing policy options and let political forces determine whether they are used or not
Yet, the author argues that there are benefits for eco
Reschovsky (1998)
state tax incidence/burden (how progressive are state tax systems)
Should state governments use progressive taxes?
Some say no
Musgrave (1959) suggested redistribution should be handled by federal govt.
Oates (1972) argued that any attempts by government
What determines how progressive a states' tax system is?
Lowery (1987) - early adoption of broad-based sales and income taxes
Chernick (1992) - political competition and interest groups
Chernick and Reschovksy (1996) - greater the proportion of taxpayers who itemize greater progressivity of state and local tax