Atkinson and Stiglitz (Journal of Public Economics 1976) show that when the government has access to non-linear income taxation and consumer preferences are separable between consumption and leisure, there is no need for differentiated commodity taxation. This paper examines the empirical...

The Mirrlees Review recommends that commodity taxation should in general be uniform, but with some goods consumed in conjunction with labour supply (such as child care) left untaxed. This paper examines the validity of this claim in an optimal income tax framework. Contrary to the recommendation...

Using the self-selection approach to tax analysis within an OLG framework, the paper examines optimal non-linear labour and capital income taxation and the provision of a durable public good. Under endogenous wages, the marginal tax rules depend on the influence of the tax instruments on...

This studyexamines the choice between specific and ad valorem taxes when the production of a good, produced under imperfect competition, creates harmful externalities. The optimal tax system is shown to rely on wholly ad valorem (specific) taxation if the valuation of the distortion arising from...

We analyze the decision rules governing public employment policy, capital allocation between private and public sector, and the size of the public sector in a two-type and two-sector optimal nonlinear income-tax model with endogenous wages. The government can reduce wage inequality in the...

This paper analyses the optimal tax policy and public provision of private goods when individuals differ in two respects: income-earning ability and rationality. Publicly provided goods should be overprovided or subsidised, relative to the decentralised optimum, if society's marginal valuation...

The paper studies the trade-off between efficiency and equity objectives within a model of commodity taxation. It derives two formulations for a many-person Ramsey tax rule in the presence of externalities. The first tax rule reveals that the aggregate compensated decrease in the demand for a...

Using the self-selection approach to tax analysis, the paper analyzes the impacts of environmental externalities on Pareto-efficient non-linear income tax, proportional commodity taxes and public expenditure. Consideration of externalities within this framework reveals intuitive insights into...

This paper analyses the optimal tax policy and public provision of private goods when individuals differ in two respects: income-earning ability and rationality. Publicly provided goods should be overprovided or subsidised, relative to the decentralised optimum, if society's marginal valuation...