Child Care Subsidies, Quality, and Optimal Income Taxation

We study child care subsidies in a Mirrleesian optimal tax framework where parents choose both the quantity and quality of child care. Child care services not only enable parents to work, but also contribute to children’s human capital. We examine the conditions under which child care expenditures should be encouraged or discouraged by the tax system under different assumptions regarding the available policy instruments. Using a quantitative model calibrated to the US economy, we illustrate the possibility that child care expenditures should be taxed rather than subsidized, and we discuss the merits of public provision schemes for child care. (JEL H21, H24, H41, J13)

Optimal Income Taxation with Present Bias

Work often entails up-front effort costs in exchange for delayed benefits, and mounting evidence documents present bias over effort in the face of such delays. This paper studies the implications for the optimal income tax. Optimal tax rates are computed for present-biased workers who choose multiple dimensions of labor effort, some of which occur prior to compensation. Present bias reduces optimal tax rates, with a larger effect when the elasticity of taxable income is high. Optimal marginal tax rates may be negative at low incomes, providing an alternative, corrective rationale for work subsidies like the Earned Income Tax Credit. (JEL D91, H21, H24)

Application of Genetic Algorithm to Optimal Income Taxation

This paper, intended for researchers, introduces a stochastic method for calculating the optimal tax schedule based on taxpayer utility, population skill distribution, and wages. It implements and extends the classic approach to optimal income tax calculation introduced by J.A. Mirrlees. A genetic algorithm is applied instead of the numerical or analytical method of solving the problem. In the experimental part of the article, we took basic statistics for Germany in 2017 to infer about the distribution skills and wages of the working population. Their aim was to verify whether our approach would give similar results to those known from the literature on the subject. Thus, we have calculated the impact of the taxpayer attitude to work and budget external flows on the income tax schedule. Then, we measured the convergence of the search process across multiple runs of the algorithm. Analysis of obtained results brought us to the conclusion that they are similar to one known from the literature.