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Ulf Gerdtham. Photo.

Ulf Gerdtham

Professor

Ulf Gerdtham. Photo.

Redistributive effect, progressivity and differential tax treatment : Personal income taxes in twelve OECD countries

Author

  • Adam Wagstaff
  • Eddy Van Doorslaer
  • Hattem Van Der Burg
  • Samuel Calonge
  • Terkel Christiansen
  • Guido Citoni
  • Ulf G. Gerdtham
  • Michael Gerfin
  • Lorna Gross
  • Unto Häkinnen
  • Jürgen John
  • Paul Johnson
  • Jan Klavus
  • Claire Lachaud
  • Jørgen Lauridsen
  • Robert E. Leu
  • Brian Nolan
  • Encarna Peran
  • Carol Propper
  • Frank Puffer
  • Lise Rochaix
  • Marisol Rodríguez
  • Martin Schellhorn
  • Gun Sundberg
  • Olaf Winkelhake
Show all

Summary, in English

This paper decomposes the redistributive effect of the personal income taxes (PITs) of twelve OECD countries into four components: (i) an average rate effect, (ii) a departure-from-proportionality or progressivity effect, (iii) a horizontal equity effect and (iv) a reranking effect. The product of (i) and (ii) indicates the vertical redistribution associated with the PIT and the sum of (iii) and (iv) indicates the impact on the distribution of income of differential tax treatment. The average tax rate is found to be low in France and high in the Nordic countries, and the PIT is found to be most progressive in France, Ireland and Spain, and least progressive in Denmark and Sweden. Taking (i) and (ii) together, Denmark and the US achieve broadly similar levels of vertical redistributive effect. Differential treatment is found to have a much smaller effect on income redistribution (as a proportion of redistributive effect) than the vertical redistribution caused by progressivity, though there are differences between countries. These differences appear to be due principally to a different emphasis on deductions, such as tax deductibility of mortgage interest payments and insurance premiums, and on local income tax.

Publishing year

1999-04-01

Language

English

Pages

73-98

Publication/Series

Journal of Public Economics

Volume

72

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Economics

Keywords

  • D31
  • H23
  • H24
  • Horizontal equity
  • Personal income tax
  • Progressivity
  • Redistributive effect
  • Reranking

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0047-2727