最適消費稅之探討

The Optimal Consumption Taxation

張書瑜(Shu-Yu Chang)

指導教授 ： 盧佳慧

國立臺北大學/社會科學學院/經濟學系/碩士(2012年)

摘要

本文將消費財區分為必需品以及奢侈品，主要的目的是要分析必需品和奢侈品的最適租稅，並依據Lu（2012）此篇文章的市場均衡的配置結果，檢視此結果在社會規劃者方法之下是否依然為最適配置。因此，在生產面我們沿用其三部門新古典成長模型，分別生產必需品、奢侈品及投資財，並假設勞動供給為無彈性。研究在對不同性質的消費產品課徵不同稅率時，對民眾福利水準的影響。我們發現，兩種消費財課徵相同的稅率，確實能夠使社會福利水準達到極大，也就是說，現今一般社會中奢侈品的稅率高於必需品，會使消費者福利下降。
此外，我們設定了以下兩種情況，第一種情況是必需品可以同時作為投資財，第二種情況則是奢侈品可以同時作為投資財；進一步分析消費稅對必需品及奢侈品與投資財的相對價格改變的影響，進而探討最適消費稅率。此時由於資源會由消費財移轉到投資財，並且會對實質資本和產出造成影響，因此我們發現，極大化民眾的效用之最適稅率並非兩者課徵相同的稅率，而是應該對可以同時作為投資財的消費財課徵較高的稅率。

關鍵字

最適消費稅 ； 必需品 ； 奢侈品

並列摘要

This paper analyzes the optimal taxation between necessities and luxuries. We examine the competitive equilibrium in Lu (2012), whether its optimal taxation is still the optimal distribution under the tool of a social planner. We follow Lu (2012) by setting up a three-production-sector neoclassical growth model with inelastic labor supply producing necessities, luxuries and investments. We found that two consumption goods levied at the same tax rate can maximize social welfare. That is to say, in today’s society, when the tax rate levied on luxuries is higher than on necessities, it would raise welfare cost.
In addition, we have set the following two cases to survey the optimal tax rate; if the consumption tax affects the relative price between consumption goods and investments. The first case is that necessities can be regarded as investments. And the second case is that luxuries can be regarded as investments. Due to the amount of resources that would transfer from consumption goods to investments, the amount of capital and output would be affected. We found that the optimal consumption tax rate should be levied higher on consumption goods which can be regarded as investments.

並列關鍵字

Optimal consumption tax ； Luxury ； Necessity

參考文獻

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