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Evolution of Tax Progressivity in the U.S.: New Estimates and Welfare Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Gaston Navarro

    (Federal Reserve Board)

  • Axelle Ferriere

    (European University Institute)

  • Daniel Feenberg

    (NBER)

Abstract
We provide a statistical description of the evolution of tax progressivity and income inequality in the U.S. for the period 1960-2008, using tax revenue data. We document a large and steady increase of tax progressivity over our sample, with brief exceptions during the early 1980’s and early 2000’s. We provide flexible – parametric and non-parametric – yearly estimates of the tax distribution. We then use a canonical heterogeneous households model (Aiyagari, 1994) to compare the optimal tax progressivity to the current U.S. tax system. Our findings are threefold. First, under the joint assumptions of a linear capital capital tax and an intensive labor supply choice, the optimal progressivity is very close to the one measured in the data. However, if the labor supply choice is on the extensive margin only, optimal tax progressivity is much larger than in the data. Third, preliminary results suggest that the optimal tax system should allow for a non-zero cross-term between capital and labor income taxes: there are welfare gains in allowing the marginal capital tax rate to be increasing in labor income.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaston Navarro & Axelle Ferriere & Daniel Feenberg, 2017. "Evolution of Tax Progressivity in the U.S.: New Estimates and Welfare Implications," 2017 Meeting Papers 989, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed017:989
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Heathcote & Kjetil Storesletten & Giovanni L. Violante, 2017. "Optimal Tax Progressivity: An Analytical Framework," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1693-1754.
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    3. Axelle Ferriere & Gaston Navarro, 2013. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Government Spending: It's All About Taxes," Working Papers 13-18, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    4. Tauchen, George, 1986. "Finite state markov-chain approximations to univariate and vector autoregressions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 177-181.
    5. S. Rao Aiyagari, 1994. "Uninsured Idiosyncratic Risk and Aggregate Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(3), pages 659-684.
    6. James M. Poterba & Daniel R. Feenberg, 2000. "The Income and Tax Share of Very High-Income Households, 1960-1995," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 264-270, May.
    7. Yongsung Chang & Sun-Bin Kim, 2007. "Heterogeneity and Aggregation: Implications for Labor-Market Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1939-1956, December.
    8. Gouveia, Miguel & Strauss, Robert P., 1994. "Effective Federal Individual Tax Functions: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 47(2), pages 317-339, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura E. Jackson & Christopher Otrok & Michael T. Owyang, 2019. "Tax Progressivity, Economic Booms, and Trickle-Up Economics," Working Papers 2019-034, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 06 Jun 2022.

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