CGE Models and Capital Income Tax Reforms: The Case of a Dual Income Tax for Germany

Capital income taxation is a complicated issue because of the g- eral equilibrium implications these taxes have with regard to the int- sectoral and intertemporal allocation of economic resources. Together with Michael Stimmelmayr (CES, Munich) and Christian Keuschnigg (IFF, St. Gallen), Doina Radulescu from the Ifo Institute for E- nomic Research has designed a complex and particularly elegant - tertemporal general equilibrium model of the economy, called IfoMod. IfoMod makes it possible to calculate the welfare gains and losses from fundamental tax reforms in present value terms. One of the tax reforms Doina Radulescu analyses is the move - wards a dual income tax, as is used in some Scandinavian countries. She analyses this tax using German data, because it was recently p- posed, among others, by the German Council of Economic Advisors. In the meantime, IfoMod has become a standard tool for the Ifo Institute. According to the Council of Economic Advisors, it is not only sta- of-the-art, but one of the world’s most developed and advanced CGE models for the purpose of analysing intertemporal allocation problems in growing economies. Hans-Werner Sinn Preface This book was written during my time acting as a PhD candidate in the Public Finance Department at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich.