Taxing High-Income Earners: Tax Avoidance and Mobility

Abstract

The IEB research program in Tax Systems Analysis aims at promoting high quality research in the field of taxation, taking into account not only the traditional approach to optimal taxation, but also administrative issues and the decentralization or globalization context. The ultimate aim of the program is to generate socially useful knowledge in this field. Special emphasis is put on empirical research, and on the analysis of the Spanish Tax System. The program enjoys the support from the IEB-Foundation. The IEB working papers represent ongoing research that is circulated to encourage discussion and has not undergone a peer review process. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IEB. IEB Working Paper 2017/06 TAXING HIGH-INCOME EARNERS: TAX AVOIDANCE AND MOBILITY *Alejandro Esteller, Amedeo Piolatto, Matthew D. Rablen ABSTRACT: The taxation of high-income earners is of importance to every country and is the subject of a considerable amount of recent academic research. Such high-income earners contribute substantial amounts of tax and generate significant positive spillovers, but are also highly mobile: a 1% increase in the top marginal income tax rate increases outmigrations by around 1.5 to 3%. We review research into taxation of high-income earners to provide a synthesis of existing theoretical and empirical understanding. We offer various avenues for potential future theoretical and empirical research.JEL Codes: H26, H31, K34, K42