IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ays/ispwps/paper0710.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Using Human Capital Theory to Establish a Potential Income Tax

Author

Abstract

There are good arguments for an individual income tax on “potential income”, but the drawback to such a tax is the significant administrative concern regarding the implementation of the tax. This paper argues that human capital theory provides a widely accepted and straightforward method to estimate “potential income” using observed characteristics of individuals, and operationalizes this approach using data for the U.S.A. The paper also suggests that a “potential income tax” is very similar to a “presumptive income tax.” The paper concludes by reviewing some significant problems with the implementation of a potential/presumptive income tax.

Suggested Citation

  • Dagney Faulk & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Sally Wallace, 2007. "Using Human Capital Theory to Establish a Potential Income Tax," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0710, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper0710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://icepp.gsu.edu/files/2015/03/ispwp0710.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmad,Etisham & Stern,Nicholas, 1991. "The Theory and Practice of Tax Reform in Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521265638, September.
    2. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    3. Mulligan, C. B. & Sala-i-Martin, X., 1997. "A labor income-based measure of the value of human capital: An application to the states of the United States," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 159-191, May.
    4. Auerbach, Alan J., 1997. "Quantifying the Current U.S. Fiscal Imbalance," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 50(3), pages 387-398, September.
    5. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Dillon Alleyne & James Alm & Roy Bahl & Sally Wallace, 2004. "Tax Burden in Jamaica," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0434, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    7. Plug, Erik J. S. & van Praag, Bernard M. S. & Hartog, Joop, 1999. "If we knew ability, how would we tax individuals?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 183-211, May.
    8. Judd, Kenneth L, 1998. "Taxes, Uncertainty, and Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 289-292, May.
    9. Richard Bird & Pierre-Pascal Gendron, 2006. "Is VAT the Best Way to Impose a General Consumption Tax in Developing Countries," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0618, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    10. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    11. Ms. Milka Casanegra de Jantscher & Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1987. "Presumptive Income Taxation: Administrative, Efficiency, and Equity Aspects," IMF Working Papers 1987/054, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Allingham, M. G., 1975. "Towards an ability tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 361-376, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Godwin Dube & Daniela Casale, 2019. "Informal sector taxes and equity: Evidence from presumptive taxation in Zimbabwe," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 47-66, January.
    2. Paul Frijters & David Johnston & Michael Shields, 2012. "The Optimality of Tax Transfers: What does Life Satisfaction Data Tell Us?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 821-832, October.
    3. Janet Holtzblatt, 2007. "Implications of Return-Free Tax Systems for the Structure of the Individual Income Tax," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 63(3), pages 327-349, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chaitali Sinha, 2014. "Human Capital and Public Policy," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 3(1), pages 79-125, June.
    2. Gustavo A. Marrero & Juan Gabriel Rodríguez, 2019. "Inequality and growth: The cholesterol hypothesis," Working Papers 501, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa, 2006. "Влияние На Човешкия Капитал Върху Икономическия Растеж (България, 1949-2005 Г.) [The Impact of Human Capital on the Economic Growth (Bulgaria, 1949-2005)]," MPRA Paper 37244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Castelluccio, Marco, 2021. "Flat tax? Maybe not a bad idea after all," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 60-78.
    5. Kessing, Sebastian G. & Konrad, Kai A., 2005. "Union Strategy and Optimal Income Taxation," IZA Discussion Papers 1545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Michael Spence, 2002. "Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 434-459, June.
    7. Hogan, Vincent & Walker, Ian, 2007. "Education choice under uncertainty: Implications for public policy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 894-912, December.
    8. Wößmann, Ludger, 2000. "Specifying Human Capital: A Review, Some Extensions, and Development Effects," Kiel Working Papers 1007, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Kessing, Sebastian G. & Konrad, Kai A., 2006. "Union strategy and optimal direct taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 393-402, January.
    10. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow, 1998. "Does Schooling Cause Growth or the Other Way Around?," NBER Working Papers 6393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Les OXxley & Ttrinh Le & John Gibson, 2008. "Measuring Human Capital: Alternative Methods and International Evidence," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 24, pages 283-344.
    12. Haizheng Li & Barbara M. Fraumeni & Zhiqiang Liu & Xiaojun Wang, 2009. "Human Capital In China," NBER Working Papers 15500, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. O’Mahony, Mary & Pastor, José Manuel & Peng, Fei & Serrano, Lorenzo & Hernández, Laura, 2012. "Output growth in the post‐compulsory education sector: the European experience," MPRA Paper 44016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    15. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Specifying Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 239-270, July.
    16. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2004. "Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics, Part 2," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 48(1), pages 17-49, March.
    17. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa & Panayotova, Nataliya, 2008. "Човешки Капитал, Водещ Човешки Капитал И Доходи От Труд: Как Образованието Определя Дохода От Труд В Икономиката На България? [Human Capital, Leading Human Capital and Labour Incomes]," MPRA Paper 34261, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2005. "Measures of human capital: A review of the literature," Treasury Working Paper Series 05/10, New Zealand Treasury.
    19. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.
    20. Katarzyna Growiec & Jakub Growiec, 2016. "Bridging Social Capital and Individual Earnings: Evidence for an Inverted U," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 601-631, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human Capital; Potential Income Tax; presumptive income tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper0710. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paul Benson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ispgsus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.