The Economics of Tax Law
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Description
This chapter considers the question of how tax law can be designed with an eye to maximizing economic efficiency. From the standpoint of efficiency, no lump-sum tax is better than any other—by definition all succeed equally in avoiding the creation of deadweight loss. This leads directly to two main questions. First, why are lump-sum taxes, or instruments that come as close to them as possible, so absent, not just in actual practice but even in theoretical debate about tax policy? The answer turns on the importance of distributional issues. Second, how do considerations of efficiency operate once we have accepted, for distributional reasons, the need for tax instruments that have the unfortunate side effect of discouraging productive activity?
Source Publication
The Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics
Source Editors/Authors
Francesco Parisi
Publication Date
2017
Volume Number
3
Recommended Citation
Shaviro, Daniel N., "The Economics of Tax Law" (2017). Faculty Chapters. 1749.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1749
