Generalized cash-flow taxation

We show the unique form that must be taken by a tax system based entirely on realization accounting to implement a uniform capital income tax, or, equivalently, a uniform wealth tax. This system combines elements of an accrual based capital income tax and a traditional cash-flow tax, having many of the attributes of the latter while still imposing a tax burden on marginal capital income. Like the traditional cash-flow tax, this system may be integrated with a tax on labor income. We also show how such a tax can be supplemented with an optional accounting for a segregated subset of actively traded securities, subjected separately to mark-to-market taxation at the uniform capital income tax rate, to permit a fully graduated tax system applicable to labor income.     

Do Single Mothers Face Greater Constraints to Workforce Participation in Non-Metropolitan Areas?

Increasing workforce participation among single mothers is the primary goal of recent welfare reform measures. This article shows that increased workforce participation in the mid to late 1990s led to improvements in the economic well-being of non-metropolitan and metropolitan area families headed by single mothers. Differential benefits and costs of workforce participation of single mothers in non-metropolitan and metropolitan areas are then examined. Single mothers are found to face lower costs to workforce participation and receive lower hourly earnings in non-metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. Young children do, however, raise workforce participation costs more in non-metropolitan areas.