Theoretical analysis of the connection between taxation and risktaking
has mainly been concerned with the effect of taxes on portfolio
decisions of consumers, Mossin (1968b) and Stiglitz (1969). However,
there are some problems which are not naturally classified under this
heading and which, although of considerable practical interest, have
been left out of the theoretical discussions. One such problem is tax
evasion. This takes many forms, and one can hardly hope to give a
completely general analysis of all these. Our objective in this paper is
therefore the more limited one of analyzing the individual taxpayer’s
decision on whether and to what extent to avoid taxes by deliberate
underreporting. On the one hand our approach is related to the studies
of economics of criminal activity, as e.g. in the papers by Becker ( 1968)
and by Tulkens and Jacquemin (197 1). On the other hand it is related
to the analysis of optimal portfolio and insurance policies in the economics
of uncertainty, as in the work by Arrow ( 1970), Mossin ( 1968a)
and several others.
We shall start by considering a simple static model where this decision
is the only one with which the individual is concerned, so that we
ignore the interrelationships that probably exist with other types of
economic choices. After a detailed study of this simple case (sections