Assuming that higher traveling expenses reduce traveling time, this paper considers tax deductibility of commuting expenses when a distorting wage tax is levied. While the decision on commuting expenses would not be distorted if traveling costs were completely deductible, taxation would still...

In a two-period model with uncertainty about life expectancy, we analyze several measures that are typically included in a social security reform: tax incentives for private life annuities, a cut in the social security benefits, and an increase in the social security tax. First, we look at the...

Many countries do not require all taxpayers to file an annual income tax return. Return-free systems shift some of the costs of operating the tax system from taxpayers to employers, other third parties, and the government. Return-free systems may work best when the tax system is simple: When the...

Individuals in most all countries face a wide range of direct taxes on their income, especially variants of the individual income tax and payroll taxes. For the income tax, attempts are often made to reduce the compliance and administrative costs of the tax by using presumptive, or simplified,...

Over the past decade, a number of countries have shifted to single-rate tax systems with broader bases and lower rates. In the U.S., there continues to be discussion of the merits of a consumption tax, and of base-broadening reforms to the income tax system. The objective of this paper is to...

We examine the effects of public funding on higher education within a game-theoretical framework, in which universities choose students according to their abilities to learn, whereas to widen the opportunity of receiving higher education, the tuition fees are partially financed by a graduate-tax...

This contribution investigates the justifiable spread between labor and capital income tax rates under a dual income tax, based on arguments put forth in Nielsen and Sørensen (1997). An efficient generalized instrumental variables estimator proposed by Hausman and Taylor (1981) is employed in a...

The paper explores the relation between wages, wage differentials, and the level and structure of unemployment within a wage bargaining model. There are two types of individuals: skilled and unskilled. The bargained wage of each group depends on the respective replacement rate and determines...

We apply theories of capital-market failure to analyze optimal financing of risky higher education. In the market solution, students can only finance theireducation through debt. There is underinvestment in human capital because some students with socially profitable investments in human capital...

This paper provides an efficiency argument in favor of progressive labor income taxation. When the consumer faces a trade-off between investments in financial and human capital, a proportional comprehensive income tax tends to discriminate in favor of human capital investments. This effect is...