On Some Advantages of Progressive Indirect Taxation

The main purpose of this paper is to disprove a proposition currently prevailing in the literature, that given weakly separable utility between commodities and leisure, there is no need to impose taxes on commodities, provided the income tax function is optimal. Following presentation of a counter example, the author examines some benefits involved in including indirect taxation in relation to work incentives and the higher degree of progression attainable with an optimal mixed regime.