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Changes in Income Concentration: Taxes or Macroeconomic Conditions? |
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| Authors: | Donald Bruce M. H. Tuttle Charles B. Garrison |
| Affiliation: | Bruce:;Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, and Research Assistant Professor, Center for Business and Economic Research, 100 Glocker Building, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. E-mail Tuttle:;Graduate Assistant, Department of Economics, 505A Stokely Management Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. E-mail Garrison:;Deceased. At the time of writing, associated with the Economics Department at the University of Tennessee. |
| Abstract: | We examine the relative importance of tax rates and macroeconomic fluctuations in explaining the share of national adjusted gross income (AGI) reported by the top 0.5% of all taxpayers. Results indicate that cutting the top income or capital gains tax rate would increase the top AGI share but not by enough to increase revenues. The preponderance of evidence suggests that the top AGI share is affected more by the capital gains tax rate than by the income tax rate but that real gross domestic product fluctuations have even larger effects. |
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