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Designing Optimal Taxes with a Microeconometric Model of Household Labour Supply

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Author Info
Ugo Colombino ()
Rolf Aaberge

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an exercise where we identify optimal income tax rules under the constraint of fixed tax revenue. To this end, we estimate a microeconomic model with 78 parameters that capture heterogeneity in consumption-leisure preferences for singles and couples as well as in job opportunities across individuals based on detailed Norwegian household data for 1994. For any given tax rule, the estimated model can be used to simulate the choices made by single individuals and couples. Those choices are therefore generated by preferences and opportunities that vary across the decision units. Differently from what is common in the literature, we do not rely on a priori theoretical optimal taxation results, but instead we identify optimal tax rules – within a class of 6-parameter piece-wise linear rules - by iteratively running the model until a given social welfare function attains its maximum under the constraint of keeping constant the total net tax revenue. We explore a variety of social welfare functions with differing degree of inequality aversion and also two alternative social welfare principles, namely equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. All the social welfare functions turn out to imply an average tax rate lower than the current 1994 one. Moreover, all the optimal rules imply – with respect to the current rule – lower marginal rates on low and/or average income levels and higher marginal rates on relatively high income levels. These results are partially at odds with the tax reforms that took place in many countries during the last decades. While those reforms embodied the idea of lowering average tax rates, the way to implement it has typically consisted in reducing the top marginal rates. Our results instead suggest to lower average tax rates by reducing marginal rates on low and average income levels and increasing marginal rates on very high income levels.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY in its series CHILD Working Papers with number wp20_06.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp20_06

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Related research
Keywords: Labour supply; optimal taxation; random utility model; microsimulation;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  29. Emmanuel Saez, 2000. "Optimal Income Transfer Programs: Intensive Versus Extensive Labor Supply Responses," NBER Working Papers 7708, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  32. Richard Blundell & Mike Brewer & Peter Haan & Andrew Shephard, 2009. "Optimal Income Taxation of Lone Mothers: An Empirical Comparison of the UK and Germany," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(535), pages F101-F121, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  34. Rolf Aaberge & Ugo Colombino & Steinar Strøm & Tom Wennemo, 2005. "Joint Labour Supply of Married Couples: Efficiency and Distribution Effects of Tax and Labour Market Reforms," Labor and Demography 0501004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
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  1. Ericson, Peter & Flood, Lennart & Wahlberg, Roger, 2009. "SWEtaxben: A Swedish Tax/Benefit Micro Simulation Model and an Evaluation of a Swedish Tax Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 4106, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Thor O. Thoresen, Jørgen Aasness and Zhiyang Jia, 2008. "More realistic estimates of revenue changes from tax cuts," Discussion Papers 545, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alberto Alesina & Andrea Ichino & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2007. "Gender Based Taxation and the Division of Family Chores," NBER Working Papers 13638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Peter Haan & Katharina Wrohlich, 2007. "Optimal Taxation: The Design of Child Related Cash- and In-Kind-Benefits," SOEPpapers 65, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Haan, Peter & Navarro, Dolores, 2008. "Optimal Income Taxation of Married Couples: An Empirical Analysis of Joint and Individual Taxation," IZA Discussion Papers 3819, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Colombino U & Locatelli M & Narazani E & O'donoghue C & Shima I, 2008. "Behavioural And Welfare Effects Of Basic Income Policies: A Simulation For European Countries," EUROMOD Working Papers EM5/08, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Peter Haan & Dolores Navarro, 2008. "Optimal Income Taxation of Married Couples: An Empirical Analysis of Joint and Individual Taxation," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 838, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  8. Aaberge, Rolf & Flood, Lennart, 2008. "Evaluation of an In-Work Tax Credit Reform in Sweden: Effects on Labor Supply and Welfare Participation of Single Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 3736, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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