Nonlinear Taxation in an Economy With Heterogeneous Firms and Heterogeneous Households
Table of Contents
Author(s)
Jorge Barro
Nonresident Fellow in Public FinanceEfraim Berkovich
Senior Economist, The Wharton School, The University of PennsylvaniaTags
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Abstract
In an economy with heterogeneous firms and heterogeneous consumers, we describe a general equilibrium where firm equity is priced by a supply and demand process. With a model robust to arbitrary, nonlinear tax functions, we investigate the efficiency of replacing the current U.S. tax regime with a policy of no corporate taxes and taxation of capital distributions to the household at progressive personal income tax rates. We find that this policy reduces wealth inequality and increases total welfare.
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