Optimal Commodity Taxation with Varying Quality of Goods

28 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2016

See all articles by Spencer Bastani

Spencer Bastani

IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation; Uppsala University - Department of Economics; Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN); Uppsala University - Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies; Uppsala Center for Labor Studies and Department of Economics

Soren Blomquist

Uppsala University - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Luca Micheletto

University of Milan

Date Written: December 7, 2015

Abstract

A standard result in the optimal taxation literature is that, when agents differ in market ability and the government aims at redistributing from high - to low-skilled agents by means of an optimal nonlinear labor income tax and a set of commodity taxes, an optimally designed commodity tax structure should encourage (discourage) the consumption of goods/services that are complement with labor (leisure). In this paper we highlight that, when agents can choose both the quality and the quantity of a given good/service, this standard commodity tax result needs to be qualified. First, we show that it becomes relevant to distinguish between specific and ad valorem taxes/subsidies. Second, whether the standard result holds or not depends on how the concept of labor (leisure) complement is defined, namely, whether it is defined in terms of number of units or in terms of expenditure. We also show that levying specific and ad valorem taxes at opposite signs on a given good can be a feature of the second-best optimum.

Keywords: nonlinear income taxation, commodity taxation, redistribution, varying quality

JEL Classification: H210, H420

Suggested Citation

Bastani, Spencer and Blomquist, Soren and Micheletto, Luca, Optimal Commodity Taxation with Varying Quality of Goods (December 7, 2015). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 5635, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2717385 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2717385

Spencer Bastani

IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation ( email )

Box 513
751 20 Uppsala
Sweden

Uppsala University - Department of Economics ( email )

Box 513
SE-75120 Uppsala
Sweden

Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) ( email )

Box 55665
Grevgatan 34, 2nd floor
Stockholm, SE-102 15
Sweden

Uppsala University - Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies ( email )

Box 513
Uppsala, 751 20
Sweden

Uppsala Center for Labor Studies and Department of Economics ( email )

Soren Blomquist (Contact Author)

Uppsala University - Department of Economics ( email )

Box 513
SE-75120 Uppsala
Sweden
+46 18 471 1102 (Phone)
+46 18 471 1478 (Fax)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.CESifo.de

Luca Micheletto

University of Milan ( email )

Via Festa del Perdono, 7
Milan, 20122
Italy

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