Published July 1988
| public
Journal Article
Fairness, self-interest, and the politics of the progressive income tax
- Creators
- Snyder, James M.
- Kramer, Gerald H.
Abstract
Virtually all advanced democracies have adopted income taxes with considerable progression in marginal tax rates. To explain this we examine the nature of individual and collective preferences over alternative tax schedules, in the context of a simple two-sector model. Our results suggest that marginal-rate progression is not the result of a society's desire to achieve a more 'fair' distribution of income, but rather, it is due to the desire of middle-income citizens to reduce their own tax burden.
Additional Information
© 1988, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland). Received April 1986, revised version received March 1988. This paper has benefited greatly by comments from the editor and two anonymous referees, as well as the participants of the Caltech Theory Workshop and the University of Chicago Theory Workshop. Formerly SSWP 498.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 83209
- DOI
- 10.1016/0047-2727(88)90030-8
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171114-154735975
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2017-11-15Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field