Tax Filing Choices for the Household

Abstract

What role do tax filing choices play in an optimal tax system? Under the unitary approach to household behavior, giving spouses the option to either file individually or jointly is equivalent to offering the envelope budget set. If a collective approach is used instead, this needs no longer to be the case. In this paper, we follow this approach and assume that couples' choices are the outcome of a Nash Bargain. Threat points for the bargain are the outcomes of games played under schedules that may never be chosen by the couple. Our numerical exercises show that redistribution across spouses due to this effect may be substantial even when this option to file individually is never chosen. This places filing options as a nontrivial aspect of tax policies for the household.

Static and Intertemporal Household Decisions

“…It can account for the changes in decision power generated by the reform and the corresponding reallocation of resources and time across household members. Da Costa and Diniz (2014) provide some insight on the ability of the static collective model to study a tax reform. They analyze from a collective viewpoint the income tax system in the United States, where individuals may choose to file independently or jointly.…”