This paper studies the optimal taxation of top labor incomes. Top income earners are modeled as managers who operate a span of control technology as in Rosen (1982). Managers are heterogeneous in their talent. Effort and talent of the manager are privately observed. Managerial talent increases...

Since Sandmo (1981), many articles have analyzed optimal fiscal policies in economies with tax evasion. All share a feature: they assume that the cost of enforcing the tax law is exogenous. However, governments often invest resources to reduce these enforcement costs. In a very simple model, we...

This paper presents a two-period model, with a utilitarian government and a continuum of taxpayers. In the first period, the government designs the tax law, which comprises taxes and fines to impose on evaders. Contrary to the previous literature on optimal tax-enforcement policies, the...