I characterize the optimal linear commodity taxes when households differ in multiple characteristics and earn multiple incomes, in presence of an optimal non-linear tax schedule on the taxpayers’ labour incomes. The government should tax a commodity more heavily if, conditional on labour income, more deserving taxpayers consume larger quantities of that commodity. Furthermore, the government wishes to tax commodities at different rates to the extent that doing so reduces the distortions caused by the labour income tax. This is the case when households with different incomes have different consumption preferences, or when households with different labour supplies also have different consumption patterns.

我描述了当家庭具有多种特征并赚取多种收入时，在纳税人劳动收入存在最优非线性税表的情况下，最优线性商品税。如果以劳动收入为条件，更有资格的纳税人消费更多数量的某种商品，政府就应该对该商品征收更重的税。此外，政府希望以不同的税率对商品征税，以减少劳动所得税造成的扭曲。当不同收入的家庭有不同的消费偏好时，或者当不同劳动力供给的家庭也有不同的消费模式时，就会出现这种情况。