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Voting over selfishly optimal nonlinear income tax schedules

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  • Brett, Craig
  • Weymark, John A.

Abstract

Majority voting over selfishly optimal nonlinear income tax schedules proposed by a continuum of individuals who have quasilinear-in-consumption preferences is considered. Röell (2012) has shown that individual preferences over these schedules are single-peaked. In this article, a complete characterization of selfishly optimal schedules is provided. Each selfishly optimal schedule has a bunching region in a neighborhood of the proposer's skill type, coincides with the maxi-max schedule below this region, and coincides with the maxi-min schedule above it. Using techniques introduced by Vincent and Mason (1967), the bunching region is identified by solving an unconstrained optimization problem. Information about the optimal schedules is used to provide a relatively simple proof of single-peakedness. The Condorcet-winning tax schedule features marginal tax rates that are negative (resp. positive) on the maxi-max (resp. maxi-min) part of the schedule except at the endpoints of the skill distribution where they are zero.

Suggested Citation

  • Brett, Craig & Weymark, John A., 2017. "Voting over selfishly optimal nonlinear income tax schedules," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 172-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:101:y:2017:i:c:p:172-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2016.02.008
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    2. Oztek, Abdullah Selim, 2019. "A Characterization for Marginal Income Tax Schedules," MPRA Paper 103046, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Dec 2019.
    3. Felix J. Bierbrauer & Pierre C. Boyer, 2016. "Efficiency, Welfare, and Political Competition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 461-518.
    4. Marcus Berliant & Pierre C. Boyer, 2024. "Politics and income taxes: Progress and progressivity," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 26(4), August.
    5. Felix J. Bierbrauer & Pierre C. Boyer & Andreas Peichl, 2021. "Politically Feasible Reforms of Nonlinear Tax Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(1), pages 153-191, January.
    6. Berliant, M. & Gouveia, M., 1991. "On Political Economy of Income Taxation," RCER Working Papers 288, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
    7. Laurent Simula & Alain Trannoy, 2020. "Bunching and Rank-Dependent Optimal Income Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8443, CESifo.
    8. Berliant, Marcus & Gouveia, Miguel, 2022. "On the Political Economy of Nonlinear Income Taxation," MPRA Paper 113140, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Miguel Calvin & Pilar Rey del Castillo, 2023. "A Bayesian Networks Approach for Analyzing Voting Behavior," CESifo Working Paper Series 10855, CESifo.
    10. Felix J. Bierbrauer & Pierre C. Boyer & Emanuel Hansen, 2023. "Pareto‐Improving Tax Reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(3), pages 1077-1103, May.
    11. Henry de Frahan, Lancelot & Maniquet, François, 2021. "Preference responsibility versus poverty reduction in the taxation of labor incomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    12. Asen Ivanov, 2023. "Borda-optimal taxation of labour income," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(3), pages 331-364, April.
    13. Laurent Simula & Alain Trannoy, 2023. "Bunching in rank-dependent optimal income tax schedules," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(1), pages 237-263, January.
    14. Craig Brett & John A. Weymark, 2020. "Majority rule and selfishly optimal nonlinear income tax schedules with discrete skill levels," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 54(2), pages 337-362, March.
    15. Felix Bierbrauer, 2016. "Effizienz oder Gerechtigkeit? Ungleiche Einkommen, ungleiche Vermögen und die Theorie der optimalen Besteuerung," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2016_03, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    16. Darong Dai, 2020. "Voting over selfishly optimal tax schedules: Can Pigouvian tax redistribute income?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(5), pages 1660-1686, September.
    17. Emanuel Hansen, 2021. "Political Competition with Endogenous Party Formation and Citizen Activists," CESifo Working Paper Series 9374, CESifo.
    18. Darong Dai & Guoqiang Tian, 2023. "Voting over selfishly optimal income tax schedules with tax-driven migrations," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(1), pages 183-235, January.
    19. Felix Bierbrauer & Aleh Tsyvinski & Nicolas D. Werquin, 2017. "Taxes and Turnout," NBER Working Papers 24123, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Emanuel Hansen, 2017. "Optimal income taxation with labor supply responses at two margins: When is an Earned Income Tax Credit optimal?," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2017_10, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bunching; Ironing; Majority voting; Nonlinear income taxation; Redistributive taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

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