Can Government Collect Resources without Hurting Investors? Taxation of Returns from Assets

University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, Working paper series 01.27

28 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2012

See all articles by Raaj Kumar Sah

Raaj Kumar Sah

University of Chicago

Kenji Wada

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: November 2001

Abstract

This paper presents the possibility that the government may be able to collect resources, without hurting investors, by introducing or changing taxes and subsidies on gains from different classes of financial assets.

Our positive analysis is based on heterogeneous investors and an arbitrary number of asset classes. An example of the results, in the simple setting of one risky and one riskless asset, is that, under plausible conditions, the government’s resources increase, without hurting investors, from a small tax on the return from the risky asset and a small subsidy on the riskless return. We describe several more general qualitative conclusions, and the economic forces underlying them.

Suggested Citation

Sah, Raaj Kumar and Wada, Kenji, Can Government Collect Resources without Hurting Investors? Taxation of Returns from Assets (November 2001). University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, Working paper series 01.27, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2087001 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2087001

Raaj Kumar Sah (Contact Author)

University of Chicago ( email )

Chicago, IL 60637
United States
+1 773 288 1117 (Phone)

Kenji Wada

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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