The design of direct taxation and family benefits

The subject of this paper is the design of the personal income tax and social security benefits that vary with the size of the family. It is concerned with the analytical problems of policy design that arise from constraints on the instruments which may be used, from differences in social judgements about the desirability of redistribution, and from differences of view about the disincentive effects of taxation. The paper considers these issues in the context of the French tax-benefit system and the implications of the French system being 'harmonised' towards certain features of the British system.