Jerdle's Shortform

post by Jerdle (daniel-amdurer) · 2025-03-05T21:04:46.570Z · LW · GW · 6 comments

Contents

6 comments

6 comments

Comments sorted by top scores.

comment by Jerdle (daniel-amdurer) · 2025-03-05T21:04:46.569Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Pseudo-flat tax formula:

Assume utility is logarithmic in income, and the goal is to set the experienced tax burden to be constant.

Then, we have the formula that the average tax rate, where  is a parameter controlling the experienced tax burden and  is the break-even point, is as follows:

 is the input income, and  is the average tax rate.

Replies from: Buck, Gurkenglas
comment by Buck · 2025-03-05T22:30:32.421Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Fans of math exercises related to toy models of taxation might enjoy this old post of mine.

comment by Gurkenglas · 2025-03-05T21:24:47.133Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

What is x and why isn't it cancelling?

Replies from: daniel-amdurer
comment by Jerdle (daniel-amdurer) · 2025-03-05T22:02:02.213Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

x is the initial income, and I forgot to cancel it. Good point.

Turns out, it's far simpler than I had it as.

Replies from: Gurkenglas
comment by Gurkenglas · 2025-03-06T06:04:22.488Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Can a eat that -1?

Replies from: daniel-amdurer
comment by Jerdle (daniel-amdurer) · 2025-03-09T11:08:18.219Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

It could do, but a represents the amount of utility remaining.

Maybe the more natural thing would be to have a be the effective tax rate, and have it be (z/x)^a.