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Pareto-improving tax reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit

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  • Bierbrauer, Felix
  • Boyer, Pierre
  • Hansen, Emanuel

Abstract

This paper provides necessary and suffcient conditions for the existence of Pareto-improving tax reforms. The conditions can be expressed as suffcient statistics and have a wide range of potential applications in public finance. We discuss one such application in detail: the introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the US. We find that the EITC can be viewed as a response to an inefficiency in the tax and transfer system prevailing at the time. This adds a new perspective to the literature on why the EITC is a good idea, emphasizing Pareto improvements rather than equity-efficiency trade-offs.

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  • Bierbrauer, Felix & Boyer, Pierre & Hansen, Emanuel, 2020. "Pareto-improving tax reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit," CEPR Discussion Papers 14853, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14853
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kevin Spiritus & Etienne Lehmann & Sander Renes, "undated". "Optimal Taxation with Multiple Incomes and Types," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-000/IVI, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Glogowsky, Ulrich, 2021. "Behavioral responses to inheritance and gift taxation: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    4. Püschel, Veronika & Kindermann, Fabian, 2023. "Progressive Pensions as an Incentive for Labor Force Participation," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277643, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Marcus Berliant & Pierre C. Boyer, 2022. "Politics and Income Taxes: Progress and Progressivity," CESifo Working Paper Series 10041, CESifo.
    7. Felix Bierbrauer & Pierre Boyer & Andreas Peichl & Daniel Weishaar, 2023. "The Taxation of Couples," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 405, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    8. 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).
    9. Raghda Abdellatif Abdelkhalik Elsayed, 2023. "The impact of ontology-based knowledge management on improving tax accounting procedures and reducing tax risks," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. 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.
    11. Schulz, Karl & Tsyvinski, Aleh & Werquin, Nicolas, 2023. "Generalized compensation principle," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 18(4), November.
    12. Felix Bierbrauer & Pierre Boyer & Emanuel Hansen, 2023. "Fantastic tax cuts and where to find them," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 051, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal taxation; Tax reforms; Non-linear income taxation; Earned income tax credit;
    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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