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Majority rule and selfishly optimal nonlinear income tax schedules with discrete skill levels

Author

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  • Craig Brett

    (Mount Allison University)

  • John A. Weymark

    (Vanderbilt University)

Abstract

Röell (Voting over nonlinear income tax schedules, unpublished manuscript, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, 2012) shows that Black’s median voter theorem for majority voting with single-peaked preferences applies to voting over nonlinear income tax schedules that satisfy the constraints of a finite type version of the Mirrlees optimal income tax problem when voting takes place over the tax schedules that are selfishly optimal for some individual and preferences are quasilinear. An alternative way of establishing Röell’s median voter result is provided that offers a different perspective on her findings, drawing on insights obtained by Brett and Weymark (Games Econ Behav 101:172–188, 2017) in their analysis of a version of this problem with a continuum of types. In order to characterize a selfishly optimal schedule, it is determined how to optimally bunch different types of individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sochwe:v:54:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s00355-019-01188-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00355-019-01188-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Biung-Ghi Ju & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2023. "Taxation behind the veil of ignorance," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(1), pages 165-181, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Berliant, M. & Gouveia, M., 1991. "On Political Economy of Income Taxation," RCER Working Papers 288, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
    4. 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.
    5. 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.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

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