Advanced Introduction to Taxation

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.

George Zodrow offers a fresh look at taxation from a public economics perspective, focusing on how taxes affect economic behaviour and impact the decisions of both households and businesses.

Zodrow explores both the theoretical and empirical literatures, discussing classic results and modern extensions. He demonstrates how knowledge of economic behavior can be utilized to construct both analytical and computable models of the effects of taxes on the United States economy. He concludes by exploring optimal taxation, which balances efficiency and equity goals when designing tax systems that aim to maximize social welfare while taking into account the constraints imposed by the tax-induced behavioral responses of households and businesses.

Key Features

• Examines effects of taxes on household and business behavior
• Considers international taxation, income shifting and tax competition
• Discusses general equilibrium modeling of the effects of taxation
• Explores alternative tax systems, including proposals for fundamental tax reform
• Analyzes classic and modern results on optimal taxation
• Evaluates the ongoing debate regarding the policy implications of optimal tax theory

This Advanced Introduction to Taxation is an invaluable guide to students in public economics, public finance and taxation. This book will also be of interest to tax professionals and readers interested in improving their understanding of the many economic effects of taxation.

George R. Zodrow, Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Chair of Economics, Economics Department and Rice Faculty Scholar, Center for Public Finance, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, USA