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Efficiency effects of tax deductions for work-related expenses

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  • Wolfram Richter

Abstract

This paper studies the efficiency effects of granting deductions for work-related expenses. It is shown that much depends on whether the expenses are required for increasing taxable income and on whether the expenses are social costs. Among the noteworthy results are the following. Expenses for commuting should be taxed rather than granted deduction, as the increasing effect of commuting on taxable income is doubtful. Deductions for private costs such as expenses for housework and child care may turn out to be allocationally neutral. If they are not neutral, however, the efficient degree of deduction depends on relative labor supply elasticities. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfram Richter, 2006. "Efficiency effects of tax deductions for work-related expenses," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 13(6), pages 685-699, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:13:y:2006:i:6:p:685-699
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-006-6602-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Hirte, Georg, 2012. "Should subsidies to urban passenger transport be increased? A spatial CGE analysis for a German metropolitan area," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 285-309.
    2. Salvatore Barbaro & Jens Suedekum, 2009. "Voting on income tax exemptions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 239-253, January.
    3. Vera Bünnagel, 2013. "Reformbedarf bei der steuerlichen Berücksichtigung von Kinderbetreuungskosten," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 93(12), pages 846-854, December.
    4. Franco Mariuzzo & Patrick Paul Walsh & Ciara Whelan, 2004. "EU Merger Control in Differentiated Product Industries," CESifo Working Paper Series 1312, CESifo.
    5. Richter, Wolfram F., 2006. "Taxing Human Capital Efficiently: The Double Dividend of Taxing Non-Qualified Labour More Heavily Than Qualified Labour," IZA Discussion Papers 2328, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Maconi, Laura & Shirvani, Tara & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part I: Externalities and economic policies in road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 2-45.
    7. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Heuermann, Daniel F. & Assmann, Franziska & vom Berge, Philipp & Freund, Florian, 2017. "The distributional effect of commuting subsidies - Evidence from geo-referenced data and a large-scale policy reform," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 11-24.
    9. Homburg, Stefan, 2008. "Die Entfernungspauschale als steuertheoretische Herausforderung," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 45-53.
    10. Homburg, Stefan, 2010. "Allgemeine Steuerlehre: Kapitel 1. Grundbegriffe der Steuerlehre," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 92547, July.
    11. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2011. "Income tax deduction of commuting expenses and tax funding in an urban CGE study: the case of German cities," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 02/11, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    12. Voßmerbäumer, Jan & Wagner, Franz W., 2013. "Steuerwirkungen betrieblicher Entgeltpolitik," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 144, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    13. Wolfram F. Richter, 2007. "Taxing Human Capital Efficiently – The Double Dividend of Taxing Nonqualified Labour More Heavily Than Qualified Labour," Ruhr Economic Papers 0012, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    14. Matthias Wrede, 2006. "Tax benefits for household services," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 59(02), pages 03-05, January.
    15. Paetzold, Jörg, 2019. "Do commuting subsidies increase commuting distances? Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 136-147.
    16. Peter Schwarz, 2017. "Federalism and horizontal equity across Switzerland and Germany: a new rationale for a decentralized fiscal structure," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 97-116, June.
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    18. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2013. "Income tax deduction of commuting expenses in an urban CGE study: The case of German cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 11-27.

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