Optimal top marginal tax rates under income splitting for couples

B-Tier
Journal: European Economic Review
Year: 2012
Volume: 56
Issue: 6
Pages: 1055-1069

Authors (3)

Bach, Stefan (DIW Berlin (Deutsches Institut...) Corneo, Giacomo (not in RePEc) Steiner, Viktor (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper provides formulas for optimal top marginal tax rates when couples are taxed according to income splitting between spouses, consumption is taxed, and the skill distribution is unbounded. Optimal top marginal income tax rates are computed for Germany using a dataset that includes the tax returns of all German top taxpayers. We find that the optimal top marginal tax rate converges to about 2/3 and convergence obtains at income levels that are substantially higher than those currently subject to the actual top tax rate.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:eecrev:v:56:y:2012:i:6:p:1055-1069
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24