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Optimal commodity grouping in a partial equilibrium framework

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  • Belan, Pascal
  • Gauthier, Stephane

Abstract

The literature on indirect taxation is usually concerned with the casewhere the number of possible di¤erent tax rates equals the number of commodities.The purpose of this paper is to characterize, in a partial equilibrium framework,which commodities should be taxed at the same rate whenever there is only onepossible tax rate. It is shown that if all the consumers are endowed with thesame weight by the social planner, i.e., in the representative agent con…guration,then necessities should be taxed while luxuries should be exempted from taxation.In the many-person con…guration, where di¤erent individuals have di¤erent socialweights, only one commodity should be taxed; it is the one that is mainly consumedby households with low social weights.
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  • Belan, Pascal & Gauthier, Stephane, 2004. "Optimal commodity grouping in a partial equilibrium framework," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 49-54, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:83:y:2004:i:1:p:49-54
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    1. W. J. Corlett & D. C. Hague, 1953. "Complementarity and the Excess Burden of Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 21(1), pages 21-30.
    2. Gordon, James P. F., 1989. "Tax reform via commodity grouping," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 67-81, June.
    3. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1979. "A Note on Optimal Taxation and Administrative Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 475-480, June.
    4. Baumol, William J & Bradford, David F, 1970. "Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 265-283, June.
    5. Feldstein, Martin S, 1972. "Distributional Equity and the Optimal Structure of Public Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 32-36, March.
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    1. Belan, Pascal & Gauthier, Stéphane & Laroque, Guy, 2008. "Optimal grouping of commodities for indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1738-1750, July.
    2. Christian Gillitzer & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Joel Slemrod, 2017. "A Characteristics Approach to Optimal Taxation: Line Drawing and Tax‐Driven Product Innovation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(2), pages 240-267, April.

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