• Media type: E-Book; Report
  • Title: Capital Taxation under Political Constraints
  • Contributor: Scheuer, Florian [Author]; Wolitzky, Alexander [Author]
  • imprint: Munich: Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), 2014
  • Language: English
  • Keywords: capital taxation ; coalition formation ; wealth inequality
  • Origination:
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  • Description: This paper studies optimal dynamic tax policy under the threat of political reform. A policy will be reformed ex post if a large enough political coalition supports reform; thus, sustainable policies are those that will continue to attract enough political support in the future. We find that optimal marginal capital taxes are either progressive or U-shaped, so that savings are subsidized for the poor and/or the middle class but are taxed for the rich. U-shaped capital taxes always emerge when the salient reform threat consists of radically redistributing capital and individuals' political behavior is purely determined by economic motives.
  • Access State: Open Access