Three Views of Tax

33 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2005

See all articles by Edward J. McCaffery

Edward J. McCaffery

University of Southern California Gould School of Law

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 2005

Abstract

Traditional tax policy has been locked in a seemingly all-or-nothing debate between two apparent extremes, income and consumption taxation. But there are three choices of a comprehensive tax system, not two. This is because, under progressive rates, the two canonical types of consumption tax (prepaid and postpaid) are not equivalent, as the traditional view of tax would have them be. Adding in a distinct third view of tax makes clear that the best system for effecting liberal redistribution is not an income tax at all but a specific form of a consumption tax, a consistent progressive postpaid one. And this is, in large part, because such a consumption tax best gets at the yield to capital, in just the way ordinary moral intuitions want to get at it.

Suggested Citation

McCaffery, Edward J., Three Views of Tax (February 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=665821 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.665821

Edward J. McCaffery (Contact Author)

University of Southern California Gould School of Law ( email )

699 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States
213-740-2567 (Phone)
213-740-5502 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
368
Abstract Views
3,387
Rank
148,458
PlumX Metrics