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Optimal Taxation of Families: Mirrlees Meets Becker

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  • Musab Kurnaz

Abstract

This paper studies optimal taxation of families—a combination of an income tax schedule and child tax credits. Child-rearing requires both goods and parental time, which distinctly impact the design of optimal child tax credits. In the quantitative analysis, I calibrate my model to the US economy and show that the optimal child tax credits are U-shaped in income and decrease with family size. In particular, the optimal credits decrease in the first nine deciles of the income distribution and then increase thereafter. Implementing the optimum yields large welfare gains.

Suggested Citation

  • Musab Kurnaz, 2021. "Optimal Taxation of Families: Mirrlees Meets Becker," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(639), pages 2984-3011.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:131:y:2021:i:639:p:2984-3011.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueab012
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    Cited by:

    1. Musab Kurnaz & Terry A. Yip, 2022. "The Canadian income taxation: Statistical analysis and parametric estimates," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 272-311, February.
    2. Hanna Wang, 2026. "Fertility and Family Leave Policies in Germany: Optimal Policy Design in a Dynamic FrameworK," CESifo Working Paper Series 12416, CESifo.
    3. Takuya Obara & Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2025. "Optimal Nonlinear Income Taxation for Noncooperative Couples," Discussion Paper Series 291, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Mar 2026.
    4. Takuya Obara & Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2024. "Optimal taxation in an endogenous fertility model with non-cooperative behavior," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 173-197, March.
    5. Komada, Oliwia, 2024. "Raising America’s future: Search for optimal child-related transfers," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Kurnaz, Musab & Soytas, Mehmet A., 2025. "Intergenerational income mobility and income taxation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    7. Oliwia Komada, 2023. "Raising America's future: search for optimal child-related transfers," GRAPE Working Papers 84, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    8. Hanna Wang, 2025. "Fertility and Family Leave Policies in Germany: Optimal Policy Design in a Dynamic Framework," Working Papers 1507, Barcelona School of Economics.

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