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Consumption Taxes and Redistribution

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  • Correia, Isabel

Abstract

It is relatively well known that the introduction of consumption taxation as an alternative in the tax code, and as the main source of government revenues, leads to a more efficient tax system. However the conventional wisdom is that the change from the actual tax code, based on taxation of capital and labour income to this consumption-based system, has undesirable distributional consequences. In this work a very simple method is developed to argue that the converse is the most reasonable outcome from that fundamental tax reform. The main difference in relation to the literature comes from the assumed source of household heterogeneity. Additionally it is shown that the inclusion of a tax on consumption allows for redistributive policies with no costs in terms of efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Correia, Isabel, 2005. "Consumption Taxes and Redistribution," CEPR Discussion Papers 5280, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5280
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumption taxes; equity; fundamental tax reform; heterogeneous agents;

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General

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