The present paper quantifies the economic consequences of eliminating the system of income splitting in Germany. We apply a dynamic simulation model with overlapping generations where single and married agents decide on labor supply and homework under income and life-span risk. We compute...

This paper presents some empirical evidence for Italy from 1974 to 1995 on the relationship between the dynamics of unemployment and tax progressivity. To this purpose, the econometric tool is a Bayesian numerical approach based on a three-equation vector autoregression model where the...

Are there still opportunities for welfare-improving reforms in unfunded pension systems? To answer this question, we analyze the intertemporal structure of implicit taxes in pay-as-you-go pension schemes. We demonstrate that these tax rates are declining over the life cycle. This timing is...

A neglected implication of the choice of the tax unit is its impact on the consumption risk carried by taxpayers. As compared to individual taxation, joint taxation with income splitting provides couples with more insurance against the risk of earning inability for one of the spouses. If that...

It is well known that consumption-tax systems have several advantages over existing income-tax systems, such as greater administrative simplicity and intertemporal neutrality. Despite these advantages, proposals to introduce consumption taxes have only had very limited success. This paper...

This contribution investigates the justifiable spread between labor and capital income tax rates under a dual income tax, based on arguments put forth in Nielsen and Sørensen (1997). An efficient generalized instrumental variables estimator proposed by Hausman and Taylor (1981) is employed in a...

We apply theories of capital-market failure to analyze optimal financing of risky higher education. In the market solution, students can only finance theireducation through debt. There is underinvestment in human capital because some students with socially profitable investments in human capital...

This paper provides an efficiency argument in favor of progressive labor income taxation. When the consumer faces a trade-off between investments in financial and human capital, a proportional comprehensive income tax tends to discriminate in favor of human capital investments. This effect is...

This paper studies the effects of agent heterogeneity on optimal capital income taxation. We discuss conditions for the optimality of zero capital income taxes in a multiperiod model with heterogeneous agents and explicitly derive the welfare effects of taxation depending on the distribution of...

We derive an ex post neutral comprehensive income tax on pension schemes equivalent to a Johansson-Samuelson tax that guarantees nondiscriminatory treatment of lifetime-dependent and other investments. By separately taxing contributions and benefits, our concept does not require any assumptions...