Rules, Politics and the Normative Analysis of Taxation
Taxation has been a much-discussed subject in the literature on economics and in writings on the role and meaning of the state. Over the centuries, many authors have put forward views of what qualifies as "good" taxation and what constitutes undesirable tax policy. Consensus on these issues has changed over time, depending on historical circumstances and prevailing modes of economic thinking. In this chapter, we look at analytical views that enjoy broad acceptance in the current literature on taxation. We call these views "rules" or "norms" of analysis. They represent patterns of thinking that have wide currency or that have become codified in the literature. The chapter describes eight of the most important rules or norms and then critically examines their validity in a framework that makes explicit allowance for collective choice. Our critique leads us to identify several shortcomings and limitations in existing patterns of thinking.
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
| Length: | 39 pages |
| Date of creation: | 01 Aug 2000 |
| Date of revision: | 2002 |
| Publication status: | Published: Revised version in Handbook of Public Finance, ed. Jürgen G. Backhaus and Richard E. Wagner, Norwell, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic, 2002, Ch. 5 (pp. 109–137) |
| Handle: | RePEc:car:carecp:00-12 |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: Phone: 1-613-520-3744 Fax: 1-613-520-3906
|
| Order Information: | Email: |
References listed on IDEAS
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.:
- Hettich, W. & Winer, S.L., 1993.
"The Political Economy of Taxation,"
Papers
8, Carleton - Business Administration.
- Hettich, W. & Winter, S.L., 1993. "The Political Economy of Taxation," Papers 93-2, Carleton - Business Administration.
- Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(114), pages 175-208, April.
- Lockwood, Ben, 1993.
"Commodity tax competition under destination and origin principles,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 141-162, September.
- Lockwood, Ben, 1992. "Commodity Tax Competition Under Destination and Origin Principles," CEPR Discussion Papers 733, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Hamilton, Jonathan H & Slutsky, Steven, 2000. " Decentralizing Allocation and Distribution by Separation with Information Transfers," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 2(3), pages 289-318.
- repec:cup:cbooks:9780521021807 is not listed on IDEAS
- Atkinson, Anthony B & Stern, N H, 1974. "Pigou, Taxation and Public Goods," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 119-28, January.
- Wolfgang Eggert, 1999. "Capital Tax Competition with Inefficient Government Spending," CoFE Discussion Paper 99-15, Center of Finance and Econometrics, University of Konstanz.
- Boylan, Richard T & McKelvey, Richard D, 1995. "Voting over Economic Plans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 860-71, September.
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:car:carecp:00-12. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Renee Lortie)
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.