Higher taxes at the top? The role of tax avoidance
研究在美国存在内生避税行为时，最优税率如何确定。发现对顶层收入者征收极高边际税率无法维持均衡，长期最优税率接近现状，且增税并非有效的再分配手段。
How does the presence of endogenous tax compliance alter optimal taxation in the United States? Using a full-scale macroeconomic model augmented with endogenous tax avoidance, I show that extremely high marginal tax rates for top earners cannot be sustained in equilibrium. Revenue- and welfare-maximising tax rates range between 36.4% and 38.4% in the long run, which are very close to the status quo. These results are robust to the calibration of the labour supply’s Frisch elasticity, and the labour response explains, at most, 60% of the variation of taxable income in the short run. Moreover, tax hikes on top earners are not effective redistribution mechanisms in the presence of tax avoidance.