Does Atlas Shrug?

by Slemrod, Joel B.

• ISBN13: 9780674008151
• ISBN10: 0674008154
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Since the introduction of the income tax in 1913, controversy has raged about how heavily to tax the rich. Opponents of high tax rates claim that heavy assessments have negative incentives on the productivity of some of our most talented citizens; supporters stress the importance of the rich shouldering their "fair share," and decry the loopholes that permit many to escape their obligations. Notably absent from this debate is hard evidence about the actual impact of taxes on the behavior of the affluent.This book presents evidence by leading economists of the effects of taxes on the formation of businesses, the supply of labor, the form of executive compensation, the accumulation of wealth, the allocation of portfolios, and the realization of capital gains. Among its findings are that the labor supply of the rich remained unchanged in the face of large tax cuts in 1986, and that in late 1992 executives exercised billions of dollars' worth of stock options in order to beat the tax increases expected in 1993. The book also presents a history of efforts to tax the rich, a demographic snapshot of the financially affluent, and a road map to widely used tax-avoidance strategies.Does Atlas Shrug? will be of great interest to policymakers and interested citizens who want to know how much tax revenue could really be gained by increasing tax rates on the rich, or whether low capital gains tax rates really spur economic growth.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Part I History and Background	1	(138)
The Economics of Taxing the Rich	3	(26)
Joel B. Slemrod
Historical Perspective on U.S. Tax Policy Toward the Rich	29	(45)
W. Elliot Brownlee
Who Are the Rich? A Demographic Profile of High-Income and High-Wealth Americans	74	(40)
Edward N. Wolff
The Tax Environment Facing the Wealthy	114	(25)
Douglas A. Shackelford
Part II New Empirical Evidence on Behavioral Response	139	(324)
It's Not About the Money: Why Natural Experiments Don't Work on the Rich	141	(24)
Austan Goolsbee
Commentary on Chapter 5	159	(6)
Terry Shevlin
Are the Rich Different?	165	(28)
James Alm
Sally Wallace
Commentary on Chapter 6	188	(5)
Daniel Feenberg
Taxation and the Labor Supply Decisions of the Affluent	193	(47)
Robert A. Moffitt
Mark O. Wilbelm
Commentary on Chapter 7
Christopher R. Taber	235	(5)
Are ``Real'' Responses to Taxes Simply Income Shifting Between Corporate and Personal Tax Bases?	240	(49)
Roger H. Gordon
Joel B. Slemrod
Commentary on Chapter 8	281	(8)
David F. Bradford
Portfolio Responses to Taxation: Evidence from the End of the Rainbow	289	(40)
Andrew A. Samwick
Commentary on Chapter 9	324	(5)
James R. Hines Jr.
The Estate Tax and After-Tax Investment Returns	329	(26)
James M. Poterba
Commentary on Chapter 10	350	(5)
William G. Gale
Capital Gains Taxation and Tax Avoidance: New Evidence from Panel Data	355	(37)
Alan J. Auerbach
Leonard E. Burman
Jonathan M. Siegel
Commentary on Chapter 11	389	(3)
Jane G. Gravelle
Taxes and Philanthropy Among the Wealthy	392	(35)
Gerald E. Auten
Charles T. Clotfelter
Richard L. Schmalbeck
Commentary on Chapter 12	425	(2)
John B. Shoven
Entrepreneurs, Income Taxes, and Investment	427	(36)
Robert Carroll
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Mark Rider
Harvey S. Rosen
Commentary on Chapter 13	456	(7)
R. Glenn Hubbard
Part III Alternative Perspectives	463	(45)
Why Do the Rich Save So Much?	465	(25)
Christopher D. Carroll
Commentary on Chapter 14	485	(5)
Stephen P. Zeldes
Progressive Taxation and the Incentive Problem	490	(18)
Robert H. Frank
Contributors	508	(3)
Index	511