«Neutral» Profit Taxation, Risk Taking and Optimal Profit Taxation

Abstract

In recent years a number of public finance economists have argued for cash flow taxation whereby investment costs would be immediately deducted from taxable profit and no depreciation and financing costs would be deducted (see the Meade report (1978)). Such a profit tax has been found to be neutral in the sense that marginal investment and financing decisions are unaffected by taxation except through general equilibrium effects on interest rates.