Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Publication Citation
68 Tax Law Review 355 (2015)
Abstract
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 support the inference that either labor supply or savings behaviors are likely to be of primary importance. This Article thus focuses instead on analyzing a variety of more idiosyncratic and context-dependent ways in which taxpayers respond to taxation. This analysis demonstrates a relatively strong case for taxing (all of) labor income, consumption, capital income, and wealth.
Recommended Citation
Gamage, David, "The Case for Taxing (All of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, and Wealth" (2015). Articles by Maurer Faculty. 2414.
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/2414