On the theory of tax reform

Abstract

This paper focuses on the difference between de novo tax design and the reform of existing tax laws. Issues of efficiency and equity in optimal tax reform are discussed. Principles for balancing horizontal equity and efficiency are discussed. The paper also examines critically the utilitarian criterion of social choice that has been the basis of recent theoretical studies of optimal tax design. The Haig-Simons standard, as a principle of either design or reform, is criticized as both inefficient and inequitable in the light of optimal tax theory and the theory of tax incidence. © 1976.