| Sumario: | A model is developed to examine the implications of uncertainty for the structure of optimal commodity taxes where a linear income tax is present. The model presupposes that consumers face uncertainty of income and commit to consumption of certain goods before this uncertainty is resolved and to others afterward. The model reveals that optimal commodity taxes are uniform in the category of noncommitted goods if their subutility is logarithmic, that they are uniform within both categories if both subutilities are logarithmic, and that they are nonzero across categories, with the tax rate on precommitted goods being lower than the tax rate on noncommitted goods.
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