• Media type: E-Book
  • Title: The Optimal Taxation of Height : A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution
  • Contributor: Mankiw, N. Gregory [Author]; Weinzierl, Matthew [Other]
  • Published: [S.l.]: SSRN, [2011]
  • Published in: NBER Working Paper ; No. w14976
  • Extent: 1 Online-Ressource (28 p)
  • Language: English
  • Origination:
  • Footnote: Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments May 2009 erstellt
  • Description: Should the income tax include a credit for short taxpayers and a surcharge for tall ones? The standard Utilitarian framework for tax analysis answers this question in the affirmative. Moreover, a plausible parameterization using data on height and wages implies a substantial height tax: a tall person earning $50,000 should pay $4,500 more in tax than a short person. One interpretation is that personal attributes correlated with wages should be considered more widely for determining taxes. Alternatively, if policies such as a height tax are rejected, then the standard Utilitarian framework must fail to capture intuitive notions of distributive justice
  • Access State: Open Access