Public Investment Financed by Consumption Tax in an Aging Society

Abstract

Earlier papers have examined endogenous growth models including public investment financed by an income tax. However, public capital with such financing has not been reported. Aging societies are developing rapidly in economically developed countries. Consumption taxes to finance government expenditures are attractive to alleviate intergenerational inequality. In this paper, we demonstrate that, for public investment financing, a consumption tax is better than an income tax for income growth. If a future generation’s utility is not discounted greatly in social welfare, a consumption tax is superior. A government-set income growth rate target makes income tax financing desirable by providing more social welfare.