Capital taxation : principles , properties and optimal taxation issues

This article addresses the issue of capital taxation relying on three levels of analysis. The first level deals with the multiple ways to tax capital (income or value, proportional or progressive taxation, and the temporality of the taxation) and presents some of France's particular features within a heterogeneous European context. The second area of investigation focuses on the main dynamic properties generated by capital taxation: the principle of equivalence with a tax on consumption; the issue of double taxation if it targets taxation of nominal income; neutrality of the uniform tax on the capital value; lastly, the risk of confiscatory taxation if there is a disjunction between taxation of the value and the income. The final level ofanalysis consists in assessing the debate on the optimal level of capital taxation drawing on the lessons in the literature. These discussions are organized into eight themes: (1) double taxation, (2) optimal growth, (3)property, (4) tax competition, (5) supervisory arguments, (6) measuring capital gains, (7) complexity and (8) fiscal stability