This paper characterizes the optimal redistributive tax schedule in a matching unemployment framework where (voluntary) nonparticipation and (involuntary) unemployment are endogenous. The optimal employment tax rate is given by an inverse employment elasticity rule. This rule depends on the...

Many countries are currently debating whether to reduce or eliminate taxes on feminine hygiene products as a measure to address "period poverty" and promote gender equality. Legislators often reject proposals involving reforms of "tampon taxes" as the pass-through of sales taxes into consumer...

This paper discusses the potential consequences of the international tax provisions of the recent Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), drawing on existing research. The TCJA's dividend exemption provision is expected to eliminate distortions to the amount and timing of dividend repatriations. However,...

We challenge the "OECD view" (Arnold et al. 2011) according to which a shift from direct to indirect taxation is associated with higher long-run economic growth. We study the relationships between per capita GDP, overall tax revenue and tax composition (in particular direct vs. indirect...

How do wealthy individuals respond to wealth tax reforms? We analyse behavioral responses to intensive margin variation in wealth tax rates, estimating the causal effects of an unprecedented municipal wealth tax reform in Norway. We leverage variation from the single-period municipal reform...

We derive a general optimal income tax formula when individuals respond along both the intensive and extensive margins and when income effects can prevail. Individuals are heterogeneous across two dimensions: their skill and their disutility of participation. Preferences over consumption and...

The stylized facts suggest a negative relationship between tax progressivity and the skill premium from the early 1960s until the early 1990s, and a positive one thereafter. They also generally imply rising tax progressivity, except for the 1980s. In this paper, we ask whether optimal tax policy...

The 2017 US tax legislation - widely referred to as the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) - fundamentally transformed the US system of international taxation. It ostensibly ended worldwide taxation but introduced, for instance, a new tax on "Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income" (GILTI). This paper...

The contribution Bach, Corneo, and Steiner (2008) has argued that the richʺ do not pay taxes adequately in relation to their income, finding, for instance, an effective tax rate of only 38.1% for the 0.001% fractile of German income taxpayers in 2001. This result contrasts sharply with the...