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Indirect Taxation And Redistribution: The Scope Of The Atkinson-stiglitz Theorem

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  • Robin Boadway
  • Pierre Pestieau

    (Universite de Liege)

Abstract

The Atkinson-Stiglitz Theorem states that if labor is weakly separable from goods in household utility functions, differential commodity taxation should not be not part of an optimal redistributive tax system. This Theorem, which is arguable the most policy-relevant result to come out of the optimal income tax literature, has come under considerable scrutiny in the literature. We consider how robust it is with respect to differences in needs or endowments of goods, more than one type of labor supply, differences in preference for leisure, and restrictions on policy instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Boadway & Pierre Pestieau, 2002. "Indirect Taxation And Redistribution: The Scope Of The Atkinson-stiglitz Theorem," Working Paper 1005, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre Pestieau & Maria Racionero, 2015. "Tagging with leisure needs," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 45(4), pages 687-706, December.
    2. VALLETTA, Giacomo, 2012. "Health, fairness and taxation," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012016, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Sebastian Kessing & Bernhard Koldert, 2013. "Cross-border shopping and the Atkinson–Stiglitz theorem," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(4), pages 618-630, August.
    4. Bas Jacobs & Dirk Schindler, 2009. "On the Desirability of Taxing Capital Income to Reduce Moral Hazard in Social Insurance," CESifo Working Paper Series 2806, CESifo.
    5. Robin Boadway & Katherine Cuff, 2023. "The Case for Uniform Commodity Taxation: A Tax Reform Approach," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 244(1), pages 79-109, March.
    6. Robin Boadway & Pierre Pestieau, 2006. "Tagging and redistributive taxation," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 83-84, pages 123-147.
    7. Valletta, G., 2012. "Health, fairness and taxation," Research Memorandum 017, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    8. C. Benassi & E. Randon, 2015. "Optimal Commodity Taxation and Income Distribution," Working Papers wp1001, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    9. André Decoster & Jason Loughrey & Cathal O'Donoghue & Dirk Verwerft, 2010. "How regressive are indirect taxes? A microsimulation analysis for five European countries," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 326-350.
    10. Đurović-Todorović Jadranka & Milenković Ivan & Kalaš Branimir, 2019. "The Relationship Between Direct Taxes and Economic Growth in Oecd Countries," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 57(3), pages 273-286, September.
    11. Garon, Jean-Denis & Paquet, Alain, 2017. "Les enjeux d'efficience et la fiscalité," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 93(3), pages 297-337, Septembre.
    12. Wakolbinger, Florian & Dreer, Elisabeth & Schneider, Friedrich & Neumärker, Bernhard, 2020. "Konsumsteuer finanziertes BGE in Deutschland," FRIBIS Discussion Paper Series 01-2020, University of Freiburg, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS).
    13. Fuest, Clemens & Thöne, Michael & Glasmacher, Gregor, 2008. "Ertragsabhängige und ertragsunabhängige Steuern [Income-dependent and income-independent taxation]," FiFo Reports - FiFo-Berichte 10, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    14. Robert Fenge & Jakob Weizsäcker, 2010. "Mixing Bismarck and child pension systems: an optimum taxation approach," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 805-823, March.
    15. André Decoster & Jason Loughrey & Cathal O'Donoghue & Dirk Verwerft, 2011. "Microsimulation of indirect taxes," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 4(2), pages 41-56.
    16. John T. Revesz, 2014. "A computational model of optimal commodity taxation," Public Finance Research Papers 4, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    17. Xavier Ruiz del Portal, 2020. "Two reasons for not using commodity taxation in the presence of an optimal income tax," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 232(1), pages 9-28, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Indirect Taxation; Optimal Taxation;

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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