Russian taxation system is cumbersome, complicated and inefficient. It is quite a challenge to the economic development of Russia. This taxation theory course allows students to look at taxation from the viewpoint of economic theory. The course is particularly essential for students specializing in public finance and public administration.

The previous issue consists of 3 lectures: 5. Investment policy of firms under taxation; 6. The role of institutional factors in taxation; 7. Tax incidence: basic concept. This issue consists of another 3 lectures. Two of them are finishing the third part of the course (Tax Incidence): 8. Tax incidence: general equilibrium analysis with some two-sectors model; 9. Basic problems of general equilibrium analysis. So the lectures 8 and 9 are devoted to the general equilibrium analysis of tax incidence. The rather famous two-sectors model presented in the lecture 8 is used to show how to compare the economic results of different types of taxes with the same sum of tax revenues. Then in the lecture 9 in a short review are considered some problems of general equilibrium techniques usage for taxation theory.

The lecture 10 «Taxation and efficiency: social welfare functions as mathematical techniques at the context of tax system optimization» is the begin of the part IV «Optimal Taxation». The lecture presents the analytical potential of such welfare functions showing the Bowen-Lindahl-Samuelson equilibrium. This model is used here to determine the optimal general level of tax revenues.