We investigate optimal taxation of lifetime income with and without an option to emigrate during old age. The government sets the rates of deferred taxation and of taxes on interest income. With immobile agents, the optimal policy consists of full deferral of income taxes on savings and full...

The authors investigate the desirability of income taxes when the objective is to mitigate wasteful conspicuous consumption generated by people's status-seeking behavior. They consider the joint role of pre-tax wage inequality and of social norms determining how social status is assigned. They...