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The Optimal Taxation of Height: A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution

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  • N. Gregory Mankiw

    () (Harvard University, Economic Department)

  • Matthew C. Weinzierl

    () (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit)

Abstract

Should the income tax include a credit for short taxpayers and a surcharge for tall ones? The standard Utilitarian framework for tax analysis answers this question in the affirmative. Moreover, a plausible parameterization using data on height and wages implies a substantial height tax: a tall person earning $50,000 should pay $4,500 more in tax than a short person. One interpretation is that personal attributes correlated with wages should be considered more widely for determining taxes. Alternatively, if policies such as a height tax are rejected, then the standard Utilitarian framework must fail to capture intuitive notions of distributive justice.

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Paper provided by Harvard Business School in its series Harvard Business School Working Papers with number 09-139.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-139

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  1. Does being short make you more likely to be a criminal?
    by Adam Ozimek in Modeled Behavior on 2010-05-03 11:39:11
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Cited by:
  1. Estrada, Fernando, 2010. "The power to tax: a lecture of Hayek," MPRA Paper 31384, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2011.
  2. Ooghe, Erwin & Peichl, Andreas, 2010. "Fair and Efficient Taxation under Partial Control: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5388, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Alberto Alesina & Andrea Ichino & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2007. "Gender Based Taxation and the Division of Family Chores," IZA Discussion Papers 3233, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Estrada, Fernando, 2011. "The power to tax," MPRA Paper 33203, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  5. Estrada, Fernando, 2010. "Política tributaria y economía fiscal La posición Hayek (1959, 1979) con comentarios de Brenann/Buchanan (1980)
    [Fiscal tax policy and economy]    ," MPRA Paper 20094, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Bastani, Spencer, 2012. "Gender-Based and Couple-Based Taxation," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2012:6, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
  7. Pierre Pestieau & Maria Racioenero, 2011. "Tagging with leisure needs," ANUCBE School of Economics Working Papers 2011-553, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
  8. Peter A. Diamond & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "The Case for a Progressive Tax: From Basic Research to Policy Recommendations," CESifo Working Paper Series 3548, CESifo Group Munich.
  9. Fernando, Estrada, 2010. "A reading Hayek on power to tax," MPRA Paper 21526, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  10. Estrada, Fernando, 2010. "The progressive tax," MPRA Paper 34971, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2011.
  11. Shing-Yi Wang, 2010. "Statistical Discrimination, Productivity and the Height of Immigrants," Working Papers id:3344, eSocialSciences.

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