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The Marginal Cost of Public Funds is One

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  • Bas Jacobs

Abstract

This paper develops a Mirrlees (1971) framework with heterogeneous agents to analyze optimal redistributive taxes, optimal provision of public goods and the marginal cost of public funds (MCF). Standard MCF measures are shown to suffer from three defects: i) The MCF for the (non-individualized) lump-sum tax is generally not equal to one. ii) The MCF for distortionary taxes is not directly related to the marginal excess burden. iii) MCF measures for both lump-sum and distortionary taxes are highly sensitive to the choice of the untaxed numéraire good. These problems are caused by using the private rather than the social marginal value of private income to calculate the MCF, and disappear by using the social marginal value of private income. Moreover, by allowing for redistributional concerns, the marginal excess burden of distortionary taxes equals the marginal distributional gain at the optimal tax system. MCF therefore equals one, both for lump-sum and distortionary taxes, and the modified Samuelson rule should not be corrected for the marginal cost of public funds.

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  • Bas Jacobs, 2010. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds is One," CESifo Working Paper Series 3250, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3250
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacquet, Laurence & Lehmann, Etienne & Van der Linden, Bruno, 2013. "Optimal redistributive taxation with both extensive and intensive responses," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(5), pages 1770-1805.
    2. Boadway, Robin & Song, Zhen, 2016. "Indirect taxes for redistribution: Should necessity goods be favored?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 64-88.
    3. Vollebergh, Herman, 2013. "Environmental Taxes and Green Growth," Other publications TiSEM 9efd8e7a-397e-428f-95be-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2013. "Long-term care policy, myopia and redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 33-43.
    5. Firouz Gahvari, 2014. "Second-Best Pigouvian Taxation: A Clarification," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(4), pages 525-535, December.
    6. Bas Jacobs, 2018. "The marginal cost of public funds is one at the optimal tax system," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 883-912, August.
    7. Torben M. Andersen, 2015. "Incentive And Insurance Effects Of Income Taxation," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 209-226, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    marginal cost of funds; marginal excess burden; optimal taxation; optimal redistribution; optimal provision of public goods; Samuelson rule;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

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