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Pareto-Improving Tax Reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit

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  • Felix Bierbrauer
  • Pierre C. Boyer
  • Emanuel Hansen

Abstract

We develop a new approach for the identification of Pareto-improving tax reforms. This approach yields necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of Pareto-improving reform directions. A main insight is that “Two brackets are enough”: When the system cannot be improved by altering tax rates in one or two income brackets, then there is no continuous reform direction that is Pareto-improving. We also show how to check whether a given tax reform is Pareto-improving. We use these tools to study the introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the US in 1975. A robust finding is that, prior to the EITC, the US tax-transfer system was not Pareto-efficient. Under plausible assumptions about behavioral responses, the 1975 reform was not Pareto-improving. Qualitatively, though, it had the right properties: A similar reform with earnings subsidies made available to a broader range of incomes would have been Pareto-improving.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix Bierbrauer & Pierre C. Boyer & Emanuel Hansen, 2020. "Pareto-Improving Tax Reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit," CESifo Working Paper Series 8358, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8358
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    Cited by:

    1. Marcus Berliant & Pierre C. Boyer, 2022. "Politics and Income Taxes: Progress and Progressivity," CESifo Working Paper Series 10041, CESifo.
    2. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    3. Ferey, Antoine, 2022. "Redistribution and Unemployment Insurance," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 345, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    4. Spiritus, Kevin & Lehmann, Etienne & Renes, Sander & Zoutman, Floris T., 2022. "Optimal Taxation with Multiple Incomes and Types," IZA Discussion Papers 15036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Hansen, Emanuel, 2021. "Optimal income taxation with labor supply responses at two margins: When is an Earned Income Tax Credit optimal?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    6. Emanuel Hansen, 2020. "Optimal Income Taxation with Labor Supply Responses at Two Margins: When Is an Earned Income Tax Credit Optimal?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8630, CESifo.
    7. Glogowsky, Ulrich, 2021. "Behavioral responses to inheritance and gift taxation: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Schulz, Karl & Tsyvinski, Aleh & Werquin, Nicolas, 0. "Generalized compensation principle," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax reforms; non-linear income taxation; optimal taxation; earned income tax credits; Pareto efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

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