曼昆经济学原理英文版文案加习题答案12章.pptx

208 ? Chapter 12/The Design of the Tax System;209;210 ? Chapter 12/The Design of the Tax System KEY POINTS: The U.S. government raises revenue using various taxes. The most important taxes for the federal government are individual income taxes and payroll taxes for social insurance. The most important taxes for state and local governments are sales taxes and property taxes. The efficiency of a tax system refers to the costs it imposes on taxpayers. There are two costs of taxes beyond the transfer of resources from the taxpayer to the government. The first is the deadweight loss that arises as taxes alter incentives and distort the allocation of resources. The second is the administrative burden of complying with the tax laws. The equity of a tax system concerns whether the tax burden is distributed fairly among the population. According to the benefits principle, it is fair for people to pay taxes based on the benefits they receive from the government. According to the ability-to-pay principle, it is fair for people to pay taxes based on their capability to handle the financial burden. When evaluating the equity of a tax system, it is important to remember a lesson from the study of tax incidence: The distribution of tax burdens is not the same as the distribution of tax bills. When considering changes in the tax laws, policymakers often face a trade-off between efficiency and equity. Much of the debate over tax policy arises because people give different weights to these two goals.;211;212;213;214;215;216;;;219;220 ? Chapter 12/The Design of the Tax System benefit more from public services; and (2) they have a greater ability to pay. 7. Horizontal equity refers to the idea that families in the same economic situation should be taxed equally. The concept of horizontal equity is hard to apply because families differ in many ways, so it is not obvious how to tax them equitably. For example, two families with the same income may have different numbers of