cả hai đều còn lại đúng 3 triệu sau thuế. Tuy nhiên, thuế như vậy sẽ làm
những người có tay nghề mất đi nỗ lực làm việc.
Xác định mức lũy tiến hợp lý không phải là công việc đơn giản. Bài tới
sẽ xem xét vấn đề này dưới góc độ thỏa dụng của thu nhập.
(Saigon Times Daily ngày 19-52003)
70.Equity Versus Efficiency In the Tax System
One objective of taxation is to create greater social equality through
wealth redistribution. However, in order to cause minimal distortion to
economic behavior, taxation must be efficient.
Tax policymakers refer to two types of equity: "horizontal equity,"
according to which people with identical incomes are taxed equally, and
"vertical equity," according to which people with unequal incomes are
taxed differently.
A tax can cause efficiency loss. Suppose an engineer earns 100,000 dong
per hour of overtime; if she values her leisure time at only 60,000
dong/hour, she will choose to work overtime. If a marginal tax of 50% is
levied on this income, the engineer earns only 50,000 dong per hour of
overtime and thus will prefer leisure. The utility difference between the two
Voices is an efficiency loss of 40,000 dong.
A lump-sum tax is the only way to eliminate efficiency loss. After
someone pays the tax, no matter how much she works and earns, the
marginal income tax rate remains zero.
Recent debate over the Bush administration's proposed tax cut to make
the us income tax less progressive is typical of the equity versus efficiency
issue. Supporters argue that the proposal will create a favorable
