代际利他主义与税收结构中性

Intergenerational Altruism and Neutrality of the Tax Structure

本文在两期世代交叠(OLG)模型框架下引入代际利他偏好,讨论了税收结构改变对经济总量和消费者福利的影响。当存在代际财产转移时,如果经济中劳动供给稳定,降低消费税、增加工资收入税不会影响资本积累、产出以及消费者福利,在短期和长期均呈现中性特征。如果税收结构改变同时引起劳动供给减少,劳均资本和劳均产出在长期仍不受影响,但由于劳动供给下降,资本积累和社会总产出规模将有所缩小,劳均资本在短期将先上升再下降,短期和长期均伴随着消费者福利水平的轻微下降。本文结果表明,在一个代际利他偏好较强的经济中,提高直接税比重可能呈现中性特征,这为中国税制改革提供了政策启示。

This paper introduces intergenerational altruistic preferences within the framework of the two-period overlapping generations(OLG)model,and discusses the impact of changes in the tax structure on economic growth and consumer welfare.In an economy where intergenerational property transfers occur,if the labour supply remains stable,a reduction in consumption tax and an increase in wage income tax does not affect capital accumulation,output and consumer welfare,i.e.the increase in the proportion of direct taxes is neutral in both the short-and long-term.If changes in the tax structure also lead to a reduction in the supply of labour,they remain neutral in terms of capital-labour ratio and output per worker in the long-term.However,due to the decline in the supply of labour,the scale of capital accumulation and total social output will decrease.In the short-term,the capital-labour ratio will first rise and then fall,and there will be a slight decline in consumer welfare in both the short-and long-term.The results of the study suggest that in a society with marked intergenerational altruism,an increase in the proportion of direct taxes may show neutral characteristics,which provides policy implications for tax system reform in China.