Heterogeneity and Government revenues: Higher taxes at the top?

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Monetary Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 80
Issue: C
Pages: 69-85

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

How effective is a more progressive tax scheme in raising revenues? We answer this question in a life-cycle economy with heterogeneity across households and endogenous labor supply. Our findings show that a tilt of the U.S. income tax schedule towards high earners leads to small increases in revenue. Maximal revenue in the long run is only 6.8% higher than in our benchmark – about 0.8% of initial GDP – while revenues from all sources increase by just about 0.6%. Our conclusions are that policy recommendations of this sort are misguided if the aim is to exclusively raise government revenue.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:moneco:v:80:y:2016:i:c:p:69-85
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25