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A Sensitivity Analysis of the Elasticity of Taxable Income: Working Paper 2008-01

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  • Seth H. Giertz

Abstract

This paper applies the methods of Gruber and Saez (2002) to a panel of tax returns spanning years 1979 through 2001 in order to examine the sensitivity of the elasticities of taxable and broad income to an array of factors. The paper finds that Gruber and Saez’s approach yields an estimated elasticity of taxable income (ETI) for the 1990s that is about half the size of my corresponding estimate for the 1980s. The paper finds that weighting regression results by income not only has a substantial impact on the estimates, but also results in overall estimates that are

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  • Seth H. Giertz, 2008. "A Sensitivity Analysis of the Elasticity of Taxable Income: Working Paper 2008-01," Working Papers 19435, Congressional Budget Office.
  • Handle: RePEc:cbo:wpaper:19435
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    1. Gruber, Jon & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "The elasticity of taxable income: evidence and implications," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-32, April.
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    14. Kopczuk, Wojciech, 2005. "Tax bases, tax rates and the elasticity of reported income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2093-2119, December.
    15. Giertz, Seth, 2006. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income During the 1990s: A Sensitivity Analysis," MPRA Paper 17603, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 551-572, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giertz, Seth, 2008. "Taxable Income Responses to 1990s Tax Acts: Further Explorations," MPRA Paper 17602, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Carina Neisser, 2021. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income: A Meta-Regression Analysis [The top 1% in international and historical perspective]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3365-3391.
    3. Seth H. Giertz, 2008. "Taxable Income Responses to 1990s Tax Acts: Further Explorations: Working Paper 2008-08," Working Papers 20206, Congressional Budget Office.
    4. Giertz, Seth, 2008. "Panel Data Techniques and the Elasticity of Taxable Income," MPRA Paper 17600, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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