European University Institute Library

Tax progressivity and income inequality, edited by Joel Slemrod

eng

index present

non fiction

Tax progressivity and income inequality

electronic resource

dictionaries

726828046

edited by Joel Slemrod

Cambridge Social Sciences eBooks

This book assembles nine papers on tax progressivity and its relationship to income inequality, written by leading public finance economists. The papers document the changes during the 1980s in progressivity at the federal, state, and local level in the US. One chapter investigates the extent to which the declining progressivity contributed to the well-documented increase in income inequality over the past two decades, while others investigate the economic impact and cost of progressive tax systems. Special attention is given to the behavioral response to taxation of high-income individuals, portfolio behavior, and the taxation of capital gains. The concluding set of essays addresses the contentious issue of what constitutes a 'fair' tax system, contrasting public attitudes towards alternative tax systems to economists' notions of fairness. Each essay is followed by remarks of a commentator plus a summary of the discussion among contributors.--, Provided by publisher

Introduction / Joel Slemrod -- Trends in federal tax progressivity, 1980-93 / Richard Kasten, Frank Sammartino, and Eric Toder -- The lifetime incidence of state and local taxes: measuring changes during the 1980s / Gilbert E. Metcalf -- Trends in income inequality: the impaact of, and implications for, tax policy / Lynn A. Karoly -- The efficiency cost of increased progressivity / Robert K. Triest -- On the high-income Laffer curve / Joel Slemrod --Tax progressivity and household portfolios: descriptive evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances / John Karl Scholz -- Progressivity of capital gains taxation with optimal portfolio selection / Michael Haliassos and Andrew B. Lyon -- Perceptions of fairness in the crucible of tax policy / Steven M. Sheffrin -- Progressive taxation, equity, and tax design / Richard Musgrave

Tax Progressivity & Income Inequality