Poverty and Savings: Optimal Taxes with Endogenous Discount Factors

Following recent developments linking poverty to present-bias behavior, we conduct an optimal linear taxation analysis where some individuals (called “behaviorals”) have a discount factor that is a function of their disposable income. In the model, endogenous discount factors imply (1) that taxing labor decreases the valuation of savings and (2) that subsidies on savings mitigate for a lower weight being given to future consumption. We perform...