Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Taxation-Federal
The Case For Taxing (All Of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, And Wealth, David Gamage
The Case For Taxing (All Of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, And Wealth, David Gamage
Articles by Maurer Faculty
Perhaps the most fundamental questions in tax legal scholarship concern debates about what should be the ideal tax base or tax bases. In particular, scholars have vigorously disagreed about (1) whether the United States should follow other developed countries in supplementing its income tax with a value-added consumption tax, and (2) whether governments should seek to tax capital income and wealth or should instead seek to redesign or replace income taxes with progressive consumption taxes.
The prior economics-oriented theoretical literature on these questions has largely focused on analyzing labor supply and savings behaviors. Yet the existing empirical literature does not …
How Should Governments Promote Distributive Justice?: A Framework For Analyzing The Optimal Choice Of Tax Instruments, David Gamage
How Should Governments Promote Distributive Justice?: A Framework For Analyzing The Optimal Choice Of Tax Instruments, David Gamage
Articles by Maurer Faculty
A particular methodology derived from public finance economics has become very influential in the legal literature on taxation and related topics. Sometimes called the “double-distortion” approach, this methodology forms the heart of Louis Kaplow’s book “The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics” and is also the foundation of prominent work by other leading tax legal scholars such as David Weisbach and James Hines.
This Article develops an extended critique of how the double-distortion approach has been used to make legal policy arguments. In doing so, this Article constructs a framework for analyzing how governments can optimally raise revenues and promote …