La regla del impuesto óptimo en presencia del uso del tiempo: Una aplicación utilizando datos de México

Abstract

We study the implications for the optimal taxation problem when allowing the possibility of substitution between market goods and time. We find that the higher the elasticity of substitution between market goods and time in a given home production activity, the lower the tax rate on such market goods should be. We advance existing literature in two dimensions. First, we express the Ramsey rule in terms of elasticities of substitution, which are easier to estimate. This extends the scope of applications of the Ramsey rule in policy issues. Second, we illustrate the proposed optimal tax rule by estimating the corresponding elasticities of substitution using Mexican data. According to the model and the data, the optimal value added tax structure for Mexico in 2002 would have been a 7% tax rate on food and 5.5% tax rate on all other market goods.