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Optimal Taxation with Home Ownership and Wealth Inequality

Author

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  • Nicola Borri

    (LUISS)

  • Pietro Reichlin

    (LUISS)

Abstract

We consider optimal taxation in a model with wealth-poor and wealth-rich households, where wealth derives from business capital and home ownership, and investigate the consequences of a rising wealth inequality at steady state on these tax rates. The optimal tax structure includes some taxation of labor, zero taxation of financial and business capital, a housing wealth tax on the wealth-rich households and a housing subsidy on the wealth-poor households. When wealth inequality increases, the optimal balance between labor and housing wealth taxes depends on the source of the increasing wealth. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Borri & Pietro Reichlin, 2021. "Optimal Taxation with Home Ownership and Wealth Inequality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 64-84, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:19-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.red.2020.09.003
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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    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. Moore, Rachel & Pecoraro, Brandon, 2021. "Quantitative Analysis of a Wealth Tax in the United States: Exclusions, Evasion, and Expenditures," MPRA Paper 109120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Francesco Chiocchio, 2024. "Why Not Tax It? The Effects of Property Taxes on House Price and Homeownership," Working Papers wp2024_2404, CEMFI.
    5. Shulu Che & Ronald Ravinesh Kumar & Peter J. Stauvermann, 2021. "Taxation of Land and Economic Growth," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing wealth; Wealth inequality; Optimal taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

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