What is Vickrey's theory on optimal taxation?

Answered in William Vickrey's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

My work on optimal taxation, drawing on the insights of Ramsey pricing, sought to minimize the welfare loss from raising revenue. The core idea is to place higher tax burdens on goods with less elastic demand, as these are less sensitive to price changes and thus cause less distortion in consumer behavior. The objective is to achieve a Pareto improvement where possible, or at least to minimize the efficiency costs of necessary taxation.

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