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Tax differentiation, lobbying, and welfare

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  • Sandro Brusco
  • Luca Colombo
  • Umberto Galmarini

Abstract

To what extent a taxing authority should be granted the power to impose different tax schedules to different groups of taxpayers? Although the policy maker aims at maximizing social welfare, her tax policy may be distorted by the lobbying activity of taxpayers. In this political environment we characterize the conditions under which social welfare can be increased by restricting the set of tax instruments available to the policy maker; i.e., the scope of tax differentiation. We show that full differentiation is more costly, in terms of welfare distortions, when the lobbies are asymmetric in size, while minimal differentiation is more costly when the tax bases are asymmetric across different groups. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Sandro Brusco & Luca Colombo & Umberto Galmarini, 2014. "Tax differentiation, lobbying, and welfare," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(4), pages 977-1006, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sochwe:v:42:y:2014:i:4:p:977-1006
    DOI: 10.1007/s00355-013-0753-z
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    1. Blesse, Sebastian & Buhlmann, Florian & Doerrenberg, Philipp, 2019. "Do people really want a simple tax system? Evidence on preferences towards income tax simplification," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-058, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Garbinti, Bertrand & Goupille-Lebret, Jonathan & Munoz, Mathilde & Stantcheva, Stefanie & Zucman, Gabriel, 2023. "Tax Design, Information, and Elasticities: Evidence From the French Wealth Tax," CEPR Discussion Papers 18206, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Umberto Galmarini & Leonzio Rizzo, 2017. "Fiscal equalization and lobbying," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(2), pages 221-247, April.

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