Taxes, Loans and Inflation

Download or read book Taxes, Loans and Inflation written by C. Eugene Steuerle and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Income from capital receives uneven treatment in both the tax system and the loan markets. This affects almost every investment decision make by the individuals, business, and government and causes major disruptions in the economy. In this book C. Eugene Steuerle shows how the misallocation of capital results from the interaction of tax laws, the operation of the market for loanable funds, and inflation. He first analyzes the taxation of capital income, focusing on the distortions caused by tax arbitrage and on inflation-induced discriminations among both taxpayer and borrowers. The author then applies this analysis to several related issues. He concludes with a reform agenda that calls for the adoption of a broader-based, flatter-rate income tax.