Trickle-down revisited
基于近期税收归宿的实证证据，讨论涓滴效应理论，发现企业税主要通过租金和租金分享影响工人收入，且负担主要由高收入工人承担，同时不同税收政策对富人的影响存在异质性。
Abstract: In this paper I discuss what can be learned about ‘trickle-down’ ideas from recent empirical evidence on tax incidence, or the effect of tax policies on the distribution of welfare. I underscore three lessons. First, recent research suggests that business income taxes affect the earnings of workers, but these effects largely derive from taxing rents and rent-sharing, highlighting the importance of these channels for determining the ultimate incidence. Second, when workers are affected by these taxes, the burden is not borne equally by all workers, but predominantly by those at the top of the earnings distribution. Third, across different tax policies that statutorily affect the rich, the burden is largely borne by the rich, but heterogeneity in responses across tax incentives and taxpayers provides context for incidence analyses. Throughout, I discuss the value of analysing heterogeneous responses, particularly how tax incidence depends on labour markets, product markets, and tax systems.