LESSWRONG
LW

Jerdle's Shortform

by Jerdle
5th Mar 2025
1 min read
6

2

This is a special post for quick takes by Jerdle. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
Jerdle's Shortform
3Jerdle
3Buck
3Gurkenglas
1Jerdle
2Gurkenglas
1Jerdle
6 comments, sorted by
top scoring
Click to highlight new comments since: Today at 12:58 PM
[-]Jerdle6mo*30

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 a is a parameter controlling the experienced tax burden and z is the break-even point, is as follows:

f(x)=1−(xz)a−1

x is the input income, and f(x) is the average tax rate.

Reply
[-]Buck6mo30

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

Reply
[-]Gurkenglas6mo31

What is x and why isn't it cancelling?

Reply
[-]Jerdle6mo*10

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

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

Reply
[-]Gurkenglas6mo20

Can a eat that -1?

Reply
[-]Jerdle6mo10

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.

Reply
Moderation Log
More from Jerdle
View more
Curated and popular this week
6Comments