wealth taxation; capital income tax; wealth transfer tax
Résumé :
[en] We explore the case for a wealth tax as part of the tax mix. Annual wealth taxes are roughly equivalent to capital income taxes on the assets to which they apply. Wealth taxes differ in purpose from inheritance taxes which are useful adjuncts to income taxes. We recount the arguments for taxing capital income, and for taxing inheritances regardless of whether capital income is taxed. We argue that if the desire to tax asset income and wealth transfers is appropriately addressed by capital income and inheritance taxation, the additional need for an annual wealth tax is minimal.
Disciplines :
Systèmes économiques & économie publique
Auteur, co-auteur :
Pestieau, Pierre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège > HEC Liège
Adam, S., Besley, T., Blundell, R., Bond, S., Chote, R., Gammie, M., Johnson, P., Mirrlees, J., Myles, G., and Poterba, J. (2011), Tax by Design (The Mirrlees Review), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Advani, A., Chamberlain, E., and Summers, A. (2020), A Wealth Tax for the UK, https://www. wealthandpolicy.com/wp/WealthTaxFinalReport.pdf (Access Date: 2021-12-07).
Alvaredo, F., Garbinti, B., and Piketty, T. (2017), On the Share of Inheritance in Aggregate Wealth: Europe and the USA, 1900–2010, Economica 84, 237–260.
Auerbach, A., Devereux M., and Simpson, H. (2010), Taxing Corporate Income, in: Adam, S., Besley, T., Blundell, R., Bond, S., Chote, R., Gammie, M., Johnson, P., Myles, G., and Poterba, J. (Eds.), Dimensions of Tax Design, Oxford University Press, UK, 838–93.
Banks, J. and Diamond, P. (2010), The Base for Direct Taxation, in: Adam, S., Besley, T., Blundell, R., Bond, S., Chote, R., Gammie, M., Johnson, P., Mirrlees, J., Myles, G., and Poterba, J. (Eds.), Dimensions of Tax Design, Oxford University Press, UK, 548–648.
Boadway, R., Marchand, M., and Pestieau, P. (2000), Redistribution with Unobservable Bequests: A Case for Taxing Capital Income, Scandinavian Journal of Economics 102, 253–67.
Boadway, R., and Pestieau, P. (2017), The Tenuous Case for an Annual Wealth Tax, IEB Report 4.
Buchholz, W. and Konrad, K. A. (2014), Taxes on Risky Returns – An Update, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance Working Paper 2014-10.
Chen, D., Guvenen, F., Kambourov, G., Kuruscu, B., and Ocampo-Diaz, S. (2019), Use It or Lose It: Efficiency Gains from Wealth Taxation, NBER Working Paper 26284.
Comité d’évaluation des réformes de la fiscalité du capital (2019), Premier rapport, https://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/fs-2019-fiscalite-capital-01-10-2019.pdf (Access Date: 2021-12-07).
Conesa, J. C., Kitao, S., and Krueger, D. (2009), Taxing Capital? Not a Bad Idea after All!, American Economic Review 99, 25–48.
Cremer, H. and Pestieau, P. (2011), The Tax Treatment of Intergenerational Wealth Transfers, CESifo Economic Studies 57, 365–401.
Cremer, H., Pestieau, P., and Racionero, M. (2011), Unequal Wages for Equal Utilities, International Tax and Public Finance 18, 383–98.
Cremer, H., Pestieau, P., and Rochet, J-C. (2003), Capital Income Taxation When Inherited Wealth Is Not Observable, Journal of Public Economics 87, 2475–90.
Diamond, P. (2006), Optimal Tax Treatment of Private Contributions for Public Goods With and Without Warm Glow Preferences, Journal of Public Economics 90, 897–919.
Domar, E. D. and Musgrave, R. (1944), Proportional Income Taxation and Risktaking, Quarterly Journal of Economics 58, 388–422.
Fagereng, A., Guiso, L., Malacrino, D., and Pistaferri, L. (2020), Heterogeneity and Persistence in Returns to Wealth, Econometrica 88, 115–70.
Farhi, E. and Werning, I. (2010), Progressive Estate Taxation, Quarterly Journal of Economics 125, 635–73.
Fischer, S. (1980), Dynamic Inconsistency, Cooperation and the Benevolent Dissembling Government, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 2, 93–107.
Frerick, A. and Power, L. (2016), Have Excess Returns to Corporations Been Increasing Over Time?, National Tax Journal 69, 831–45.
Jacobs, B. and Bovenberg, A. L. (2010), Human Capital and Optimal Positive Taxation of Capital Income, International Tax and Public Finance 17, 451–78.
Kacperczyk, M., Van Nieuwerburgh, S., and Veldkamp, L. (2016), A Rational Theory of Mutual Funds’ Attention Allocation, Econometrica 84, 571–626.
Kaplow, L. (2001), A Framework for Assessing Estate and Gift Taxation, in: Gale, W. G., Hines, J. R., and Slemrod, J. (Eds.), Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation, Brookings Institution, Washington, 164–204.
Kaplow, L. (2008), The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Landais, C., Saez, E., and Zucman, G. (2020), A Progressive European Wealth Tax to Fund the European COVID Response, https://voxeu.org/article/progressive-european-wealthtax-fund-european-covid-response (Access Date: 2021-12-07).
Meade Report (1978), The Structure and Reform of Direct Taxation, https://ifs.org.uk/docs/meade.pdf (Access Date: 2021-12-07).
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008), Growing Unequal: Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2018), The Role and Design of Net Wealth Taxes in the OECD, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Pigou, A. C. (1920): A Capital Levy and a Levy on War Wealth, Humphrey Milford, London.
Piketty, T. (2013), Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Éditions du Seuil, Paris.
Rothschild, C. and Scheuer, F. (2016), Optimal Taxation with Rent-Seeking, Review of Economic Studies 83, 1225–62.
Saez, E. and Zucman, G. (2019a), The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay, Norton & Company, New York.
Saez, E. and Zucman, G. (2019b), Progressive Wealth Taxation, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity Fall 2019, 437–511.
Scheuer, F. and Slemrod, J. (2021), Taxing our Wealth, Journal of Economic Perspectives 35, 207–230
Stephens, E. (2012), Teach a Man to Fish? Education vs. Optimal Taxation, Canadian Journal of Economics 45, 1700–27.
Stiglitz, J. E. (1969), The Effects of Income, Wealth, and Capital Gains Taxation on Risk-Taking, Quarterly Journal of Economics 83, 263–83.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2012), The Price of Inequality, Norton & Company, New York.
