Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/26364 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 2319
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We incorporate the fact that inheritances create a second distinguishing characteristic of individuals, in addition to earning abilities, into an optimum income taxation model with bequests motivated by joy of giving. We show that a tax on inheritances and a uniform tax on all expenditures including bequests are equivalent and that either is desirable, according to an intertemporal social objective, if on average high-able individuals have larger inherited endowments than low-able. We demonstrate that such a situation results as the outcome of a process with stochastic transition of abilities over generations, if all descendants are more probable to have their parent's ability rank than any other.
JEL: 
H21
H24
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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