The John M. Olin Center
Paper Abstract
701. Louis Kaplow, An Optimal Tax System, 07/2011; subsequently published in Fiscal Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2011, 415-435.
Abstract: A notable feature and principal virtue of Tax by Design is its system-wide perspective on different elements of the tax system. This review essay builds on this trait and offers a more explicit foundation for the report's general approach, drawing on a distribution-neutral methodology that is developed in other work. This technique is then employed to illuminate and extend Tax by Design's analysis regarding the VAT, environmental taxation, wealth transfer taxation, and income transfers.