IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/ifauwp/2025_008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal housing taxation with land scarcity andmaintenance: a Mirrleesian perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Bastani, Spencer

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

  • Blomquist, Sören

    (Department of Economics, Uppsala University)

  • Gahvari, Firouz

    (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Micheletto, Luca

    (Department of Law, University of Milan, and Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Bocconi University; UCFS; CESifo)

  • Tayibov, Khayyam

    (Department of Economics and Statistics, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Sweden)

Abstract

We study optimal housing taxation in a Mirrleesian framework where individuals differ in both labor productivity and land ownership. Housing services are produced by combining scarce land with structures that require maintenance, which can be performed either in-house or through market purchases. We first characterize optimal allocations under information and resource constraints. We then restrict the government to the use of proportional housing taxes. Numerical simulations show that uniform taxation of land and structures is desirable only when political constraints prevent the imposition of very high land taxes. Otherwise, the optimal policy is to tax land at a much higher rate than structures, while still imposing a positive tax on structures to mitigate distortions from income taxation. A positive marginal tax on labor income incentivizes in-house over market-purchased maintenance. To prevent an inefficiently large reliance on in-house maintenance, optimal policy should generally subsidize market-purchased maintenance services.

Suggested Citation

  • Bastani, Spencer & Blomquist, Sören & Gahvari, Firouz & Micheletto, Luca & Tayibov, Khayyam, 2025. "Optimal housing taxation with land scarcity andmaintenance: a Mirrleesian perspective," Working Paper Series 2025:8, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2025/wp-2025-8-optimal-housing-taxation-with-land-scarcity-andmaintenance-a-mirrleesian-perspective.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sebastian Koehne, 2018. "On The Taxation Of Durable Goods," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(2), pages 825-857, May.
    2. Spencer Bastani & Sebastian Koehne, 2024. "How Should Consumption Be Taxed?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 80(3), pages 259-302.
    3. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 2001. "Direct versus Indirect Taxation: The Design of the Tax Structure Revisted," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(3), pages 781-799, August.
    4. Emily G. Moschini, 2023. "Childcare Subsidies and Child Skill Accumulation in One- and Two-Parent Families," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 475-516, January.
    5. Gervais, Martin, 2002. "Housing taxation and capital accumulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(7), pages 1461-1489, October.
    6. Florian Scheuer & Alexander Wolitzky, 2016. "Capital Taxation under Political Constraints," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(8), pages 2304-2328, August.
    7. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2020. "Child Care Subsidies, Quality, and Optimal Income Taxation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 1-37, November.
    8. Naito, Hisahiro, 1999. "Re-examination of uniform commodity taxes under a non-linear income tax system and its implication for production efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 165-188, February.
    9. Sachs, Dominik & Tsyvinski, Aleh & Werquin, Nicolas, 2020. "Nonlinear Tax Incidence And Optimal Taxation In General Equilibrium," Munich Reprints in Economics 84782, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    10. George‐Levi Gayle & Andrew Shephard, 2019. "Optimal Taxation, Marriage, Home Production, and Family Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(1), pages 291-326, January.
    11. Dominik Sachs & Aleh Tsyvinski & Nicolas Werquin, 2020. "Nonlinear Tax Incidence and Optimal Taxation in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 469-493, March.
    12. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    13. Essi Eerola & Niku Määttänen, 2013. "The Optimal Tax Treatment of Housing Capital in the Neoclassical Growth Model," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(6), pages 912-938, December.
    14. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2013. "The Welfare Gains Of Age‐Related Optimal Income Taxation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1219-1249, November.
    15. Saku Aura & Thomas Davidoff, 2012. "An Analysis of Constrained Property Taxes in a Simple Optimal Tax Model," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 58(3), pages 525-543, September.
    16. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz, 1998. "On Optimal Taxation of Housing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 315-335, May.
    17. Cremer, Helmuth & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1994. "Commodity Taxation in a Differentiated Oligopoly," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(3), pages 613-633, August.
    18. Muth, Richard F., 1975. "Numerical solution of urban residential land-use models," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 307-332, October.
    19. David Albouy, 2016. "What Are Cities Worth? Land Rents, Local Productivity, and the Total Value of Amenities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(3), pages 477-487, July.
    20. Bonnet, Odran & Chapelle, Guillaume & Trannoy, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2021. "Land is back, it should be taxed, it can be taxed," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    21. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    22. Stern, Nicholas, 1982. "Optimum taxation with errors in administration," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 181-211, March.
    23. Firouz Gahvari, 1985. "Taxation of Housing, Capital Accumulation, and Welfare: a Study in Dynamic Tax Reform," Public Finance Review, , vol. 13(2), pages 132-160, April.
    24. McDonald, John F., 1981. "Capital-land substitution in urban housing: A survey of empirical estimates," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 190-211, March.
    25. Casey Rothschild & Florian Scheuer, 2013. "Redistributive Taxation in the Roy Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 623-668.
    26. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    27. Pines, David & Sadka, Efraim & Sheshinski, Eytan, 1985. "The normative and positive aspects of the taxation of imputed rent on owner-occupied housing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-23, June.
    28. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Jukka Pirttilä, 2015. "How should commodities be taxed? A counter-argument to the recommendation in the Mirrlees Review," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(2), pages 455-478.
    29. Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen & Richter, Wolfram F & Sorensen, Peter Birch, 2000. "Optimal Taxation with Household Production," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 584-594, July.
    30. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2013. "The Welfare Gains Of Age‐Related Optimal Income Taxation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54, pages 1219-1249, November.
    31. Alessandra Casarico & Elena Del Rey & Jose I. Silva, 2023. "Child care costs, household liquidity constraints, and gender inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1461-1487, July.
    32. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    33. Dan Anderberg & Alessandro Balestrino, 2000. "Household Production and the Design of the Tax Structure," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 563-584, August.
    34. Firouz Gahvari, 2007. "On Optimal Commodity Taxes When Consumption Is Time Consuming," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, February.
    35. Jackson, Jerry R. & Johnson, Ruth C. & Kaserman, David L., 1984. "The measurement of land prices and the elasticity of substitution in housing production," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, July.
    36. Stern, Nicholas, 1987. "The effects of taxation, price control and government contracts in oligopoly and monopolistic competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 133-158, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Spencer Bastani & Sebastian Koehne, 2024. "How Should Consumption Be Taxed?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 80(3), pages 259-302.
    2. Louis Kaplow, 2024. "Optimal Income Taxation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 637-738, June.
    3. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "How Should Capital Be Taxed?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 812-846, September.
    4. Jan Eeckhout & Chunyang Fu & Wenjian Li & Xi Weng, 2021. "Optimal taxation and market power," Economics Working Papers 1777, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    5. Spencer Bastani & Firouz Gahvari & Luca Micheletto, 2023. "Nonlinear taxation of income and education in the presence of income‐misreporting," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(4), pages 679-726, August.
    6. Thomas Aronsson & Spencer Bastani & Khayyam Tayibov, 2021. "Social Exclusion and Optimal Redistribution," CESifo Working Paper Series 9448, CESifo.
    7. Jacquet, Laurence & Lehmann, Etienne, 2021. "How to Tax Different Incomes?," IZA Discussion Papers 14739, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Koehne, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "Pareto-improving reforms of tax deductions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2024. "AI, automation and taxation," Chapters, in: Stéphane Carcillo & Stefano Scarpetta (ed.), Handbook on Labour Markets in Transition, chapter 19, pages 354-370, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Cui, Xiaoyong & Gong, Liutang & Li, Wenjian, 2021. "Supply-side optimal capital taxation with endogenous wage inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    11. Antoine Ferey & Benjamin B. Lockwood & Dmitry Taubinsky, 2024. "Sufficient Statistics for Nonlinear Tax Systems with General Across-Income Heterogeneity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(10), pages 3206-3249, October.
    12. Alexander Tarasov & Robertas Zubrickas, 2021. "Optimal Income Taxation under Monopolistic Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series 9309, CESifo.
    13. Hummel, Albert Jan & Ziesemer, Vinzenz, 2023. "Food subsidies in general equilibrium," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/56k383m9o9kpb1g6f8rvv74ok is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Kindsgrab, Paul M., 2022. "Do higher income taxes on top earners trickle down? A local labor markets approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    16. Carlier, Guillaume & Dupuis, Xavier & Rochet, Jean-Charles & Thanassoulis, John, 2024. "A general solution to the quasi linear screening problem," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    17. Alexander Tarasov & Robertas Zubrickas, 2023. "Optimal income taxation under monopolistic competition," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 76(2), pages 495-523, August.
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1eob9f9aas9q18hfjsiqhggvi2 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Odran Bonnet & Guillaume Flamerie de la Chapelle & Alain Trannoy & Etienne Wasmer, 2019. "Secular trends in Wealth and Heterogeneous Capital: Land is back...and should be taxed," SciencePo Working papers hal-03541411, HAL.
    20. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2020. "Pareto efficient income taxation without single-crossing," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(3), pages 547-594, October.
    21. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2020. "Taxation and the Superrich," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 189-211, August.
    22. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal taxation; housing capital; land; labor supply; maintenance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ali Ghooloo The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Ali Ghooloo to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifagvse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.