Higher Taxes at the Top: The Role of Entrepreneurs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Bettina Brüggemann
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Welfare Gains ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates

This paper computes optimal top marginal tax rates in Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari–type economies that include entrepreneurs. Consistent with the data, entrepreneurs are overrepresented at the top of the income distribution and are thus disproportionately affected by an increase in the top marginal income tax rate. The top marginal tax rate that maximizes welfare is 60 percent. While average welfare gains are positive and similar across occupations along the transition, they are larger for entrepreneurs than for workers in the long run, and this occupational gap in welfare gains after the tax increase widens with increasing income. (JEL D11, D21, D31, H21, H24, L26)

Measuring “Schmeduling”

2019 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 2399-2438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Rees-Jones ◽  
Dmitry Taubinsky
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Policy Relevance ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Federal Income Tax ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Empirical Framework

Abstract What mental models do individuals use to approximate their tax schedule? Using incentivized forecasts of the U.S. Federal income tax schedule, we estimate the prevalence of the “schmeduling” heuristics for constructing mental representations of nonlinear incentive schemes. We find evidence of widespread reliance on the “ironing” heuristic, which linearizes the tax schedule using one’s average tax rate. In our preferred specification, 43% of the population irons. We find no evidence of reliance on the “spotlighting” heuristic, which linearizes the tax schedule using one’s marginal tax rate. We show that the presence of ironing rationalizes a number of empirical patterns in individuals’ perceptions of tax liability across the income distribution. Furthermore, while our empirical framework accommodates a rich class of other misperceptions, we find that a simple model including only ironers and correct forecasters accurately predicts average underestimation of marginal tax rates. We replicate our finding of prevalent ironing, and a lack of other systematic misperceptions, in a controlled experiment that studies real-stakes decisions across exogenously varied tax schedules. To illustrate the policy relevance of the ironing heuristic, we show that it augments the benefits of progressive taxation in a standard model of earnings choice. We quantify these benefits in a calibrated model of the U.S. tax system.

Can Income Tax Rules Affect Management Strategies for Forest Roads?

1986 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Sessions
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Forest Roads ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Management Objectives ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates

Abstract Income tax rules on capital investments in forest roads affect strategies for managing forest land. Costs of roads plus harvesting are divided into expensable, depreciable, and nondepreciable components. Tax rules that differentiate among types of costs can influence investments in both the number and standard of roads. The marginal tax rate of the landowner is an important variable. Income tax rules may lead landowners with similar management objectives but different marginal tax rates to adopt different strategies of road management. West. J. Appl. For. 1:26-28, Jan. 1986.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF TAX POLICY ON ECONOMIC GROWTH, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, AND ALLOCATION OF TAXES

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Gwartney ◽  
Robert A. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Personal Income Tax ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Tax Changes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Distribution Of Income

Using a sample of seventy-seven countries, this paper focuses on marginal tax rates and the income thresholds at which they apply to examine how the tax changes of the 1980s and 1990s have influenced economic growth, the distribution of income, and the share of taxes paid by various income groups. Many countries substantially reduced their highest marginal rates during the 1985-1995 period. The findings indicate that countries that reduced their highest marginal rates grew more rapidly than those that maintained high marginal rates. At the same time, the income distribution in several of the tax cutting countries became more unequal while there was little change or even a reduction in income inequality in most countries that maintained high marginal rates. Finally, the evidence suggests that there was a shift in the payment of the personal income tax away from those with low and middle incomes and toward those with the highest incomes.

The Wage Response to a Reduction in Income Tax Rates: The Israeli Tax Reform

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni Frish ◽  
Noam Zussman ◽  
Sophia Igdalov
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Rate Reduction ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Wage Earners ◽  
Income Tax Reform

AbstractThis study examines the effect of an income tax reform on wages. An Israeli reform implemented in 2003–2009 reduced individuals’ marginal income tax rate by 7–17 percentage points. We utilized the differential and non-monotonic marginal tax rate reduction, and used Israel Tax Authority panel data of wage earners, merged with Labor Force Surveys. We found that in the business sector, the elasticity of reported gross wages relative to the net-of-tax rate is about 0.1. The wage earners in the lowest wage quintile were not affected by the tax reform, those in the second and third quintiles did not respond to the tax cut, but elasticity increased with wage, reaching about 0.4 in the upper decile. We did not find statistically significant differences in elasticity by gender, ethnicity, or education.

scholarly journals Marginal Tax Rates and Income Inequality in a Life-Cycle Model

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 1197-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Altig ◽  
Charles T Carlstrom
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Quantitative Impact ◽  
Distribution Of Income

In this paper we study the quantitative impact of marginal tax rates on the distribution of income. Our methodology builds on computable general-equilibrium framework. We find that distortions from marginal tax rate changes of the sort implied by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 have sizable effects on income inequality in a reasonably quantified life-cycle setting: In our model rate changes alone capture half the increase in the pretax Gini that actually occurred between 1984 and 1989. (JEL C68, D31, H30, H20)

Measuring Revenue-maximizing Elasticities of Taxable Income

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Creedy ◽  
Norman Gemmell
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Rate ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Taxable Income ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
The Right

This article considers the question of whether marginal tax rates (MTRs) in the US income tax system are on the “right” side of their respective Laffer curves. Previous attention has tended to focus specifically on the top MTR. Conceptual expressions for these “revenue-maximizing elasticities of taxable income” (ETI L), based on readily observable tax parameters, are presented for each tax rate in a multi-rate income tax system. Applying these to the US income tax, with its complex effective marginal rate structure, demonstrates that a wide range of revenue-maximizing ETI values can be expected within, and across, tax brackets and for all taxpayers in aggregate. For some significant groups of taxpayers, these revenue-maximizing ETIs appear to be within the range of empirically estimated elasticities.

Labor supply responses to income tax free and bracket expansions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panayiota Lyssiotou ◽  
Elena Savva
Keyword(s):  
Labor Supply ◽  
Income Taxation ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Males And Females

PurposeAn important concern of economic policy analysis is how income taxes affect labor supply since this is crucial in assessing the efficiency costs of taxation and designing labor income taxation. The focus in the literature has been mostly to study the responses of high earners and women. The authors contribute to this literature by focusing more on how middle earners respond to financial incentives and whether the responses are different between men and women.Design/methodology/approachThe authors exploit substantial expansions in the level of individual income exempt from taxation and taxed at a lower marginal tax rate while the schedule of marginal tax rates remained the same. The authors adopt an empirical framework that is similar to Bosch and van der Klaauw (2012) and condition on the effects of other factors, such as inflows of foreign workers that may have affected the wages, participation and working hours of native males and females. The authors also conduct various sensitivity analyses to examine the robustness of the estimates.FindingsThe authors find robust evidence that the tax reforms increased the wages of medium and high educated married males and females significantly. They also had a positive impact on work participation that was more substantial for married women, especially the medium educated. The authors estimate significant positive own wage labor supply elasticities that are small and about the same for men and women when the authors condition on the labor outcome effects of inflows of EU and non-EU foreign workers, which changed the skill distribution of the economy and had a more significant impact on female labor outcomes. Smaller wage labor supply elasticities indicate lower disincentive effects and deadweight losses from the imposition of taxes and have implications on the design of optimal taxation of men and women.Originality/valuePrevious investigations of the labor supply responses of both men and women to a given policy change have been identified mostly by exploiting changes in joint income taxation and marginal tax rates. The authors exploit substantial expansions in the level of individual income exempt from taxation and taxed at a lower marginal tax rate while the schedule of marginal tax rates remained the same. The income effects of these reforms could be limited since the reduced marginal tax rates apply to only part of the income.

Determinants of corporate R&D expenditures: the role of taxes

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (54) ◽  
pp. 110-126
Author(s):  
Dorota Wasiluk ◽  
Anna Białek-Jaworska
Keyword(s):  
Tax Rates ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Internal Funds ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
D Investment

AbstractThe paper aims to find the relationship between corporate expenditures on R&D and tax burdens comparing German with French R&D incentives. We use the OLS method for the financial and patent cross-sectional data retrieved from the Amadeus database. The results confirm that firms with higher tax spread (the difference between the nominal and effective tax rates) spend less on R&D. These are in line with findings of a positive relationship between corporate R&D investment and tax burdens. Thus, firms that invest in R&D more pay higher taxes. However, they are less profitable as the return on R&D investment is visible only in the long run. German corporate expenditures on R&D are significantly sensitive to internal funds (proxied by cash flow) and depend on debt, contrary to French. The results indicate that the French firm's age (a phase of life cycle) has a significant impact on spending on R&D compared to German. Whereas in both countries, corporate expenditures on R&D are sensitive to the number of obtained patents. The capability of reducing the level of tax burdens below the nominal tax rate in the case of older German firms stimulates them to increase their R&D expenditures. However, German firms can decrease tax due to the use of R&D grants (revenues without taxation) in the absence of other tax incentives related to R&D.

The Impact of Floors and Phase-Outs on Taxpayers' Decisions and Understanding of Marginal Tax Rates

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Rupert ◽  
Louise E. Single ◽  
Arnold M. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Low Complexity ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
High Complexity ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Rate Dependent ◽  
Decision Performance ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Phase Out ◽  
The Impact

Tax provisions that reduce deductions and credits by imposing floors and phase-outs have become an increasingly popular tool used by Congress. However, these provisions also obscure the marginal tax rate, thereby potentially impairing the ability of taxpayers to make optimal decisions. We investigate the effects of floors and phase-outs on taxpayers' ability to determine their correct marginal tax rates and how this may affect tax-rate-dependent investment decisions. To investigate these potential effects we created an experimental setting in which taxpayers (89 M.B.A. students) were asked to maximize their after-tax income by choosing between a taxable and nontaxable bond. Each participant was assigned to one of three experimental tax systems: low complexity with no floors or phase-outs, medium complexity with one floor, and high complexity with both a floor and phase-out. The effective marginal tax rate was the same in each condition. The results indicate that decision performance was significantly better for participants facing the low complexity system than those in the medium or high complexity systems.

Estimating Dynamic Income Responses to Tax Reform

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertil Holmlund ◽  
Martin Söderström
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Tax Rate ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Large Panel ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Tax Changes ◽  
Tax Payers

Abstract We study income responses to income tax changes by using a large panel of Swedish tax payers over the period 1991–2002. Changes in statutory tax rates as well as changes in tax bracket thresholds provide exogenous variations in tax rates that can be used to identify income responses. We estimate dynamic income models which allow us to distinguish between short-run and long-run effects in a straightforward fashion. For men, the estimates of the long-run elasticity of income with respect to the net-of-tax rate hover in a range between 0.10 and 0.30. The estimates for women are statistically insignificant. We simulate the fiscal consequences of a tax reform that reduces the top marginal tax rate by five percentage points. Such a reform may have negligible effects on tax revenues when the interactions between income taxes and other taxes are taken into account.

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