Reduced Tax Progressivity in Norway in the Nineties: The Effect from Tax Changes

The inequality in pre-tax income increased in Norway in the 1990s, while the concentration of taxes remained largely unaltered. This means that tax progressivity has decreased in the period, as measured by summary indices of tax progressivity. In this paper I analyze individual income data to ascertain whether tax changes in the period can explain the observed decrease in tax progressivity. As marginal tax rates at high income levels have been substantially reduced in the period, for instance through the tax reform of 1992, it is expected that tax changes may have influenced the degree of inequality in pre-tax incomes. This behavioral effect is examined by deriving estimates of the elasticity of gross income with respect to the net-of-tax rate, obtained from various panel data regressions. The tax changes may also have shifted the distributional burden of taxes for unaltered level of pre-tax income inequality. In order to identify this (direct) effect of tax-law alterations, the same fixed distribution of pre-tax income is exposed to various tax-laws in the period.     

中国个人所得税的性质及其效果分析

以工资薪金税收为主体的个人所得税是一种消费者税。由于起征额的存在,个人所得税并不是一种完全的所得税,而是一种个人收入调节税。基于消费者税的理论基础,提出了关于中国代表性居民纳税人的理论平均税负的一个简单模型,以及一个关于中国个人所得税对全部税收的贡献率的理论计算公式。中国个人所得税改革应着眼于如何改善工薪所得税的累进性,增强税收的收入再分配职能,相对提高低收入劳动者的实际报酬。为此,应将个人所得税易名为个人收入调节税,减少税率档次,提高免征额。     

平均税率、标准税率与收入分布对个人所得税累进性的影响

运用中间累进性指标将个人所得税累进性的变化分解为标准税率的影响及收入分布的影响,对再分配效应变化也做了类似的分解,实证分析了我国2005~2011年个人所得税累进性及再分配效应的变化。结果显示,收入分布改变对于累进性的变化发挥主导作用,平均税率对于再分配效应的变化非常关键。因此,个人所得税的改革首先需要在分析居民收入分布的基础上进行,另外在累进性提高的同时也需十分关注税收规模的变化。     

调节收入分配：个税真的无效吗？

基于一个包含财富异质性家户的动态新凯恩斯主义模型, 考察了个税及其累进性的变动对于中国收入差距的影响。 与已有的采用单方程计量的研究类似, 文章全样本仿真的结果表明, 个税并未扭转我国收入差距不断扩大的趋势。 由于单方程计量方法与全样本仿真无法考察政策机制的改变所引起的预期等因素的变化对于主要经济变量的影响, 采用子样本反事实分析法考察了 1997 至 2005 年、 2006 至 2010 年以及 2011 年之后等三个不同子样本期个税累进性的提高对于中国收入差距的影响, 研究发现尽管个税无法扭转收入差距扩大的趋势, 但是个税累进性的提高缓和了中国收入差距扩大的程度。 进而尝试提出了相应的改善收入分配的政策建议。     

Understanding Changes in the Distribution and Redistribution of Income: A Unifying Decomposition Framework

In recent decades income inequality has increased in many developed countries but the role of tax and transfer reforms is often poorly understood. We propose a new method allowing for the decomposition of historical changes in income distribution and redistribution measures into: (i) the immediate effect of tax‐transfer policy reforms in the absence of behavioral responses; (ii) the effect of labor supply responses induced by these reforms; and (iii) a third component allowing us to explore the effect of changes in the distribution of a wide range of determinants, including the effect of employment changes not induced by policy reforms. The application of the decomposition to Australia reveals that the direct effect of tax‐transfer policy reforms accounts for half of the observed increase in income inequality between 1999 and 2008, while the increased dispersion of wages and capital incomes also played an important role.     

A Study on the Effect of Financial Inclusion on the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth

In this article, we attempt to estimate whether financial inclusion, expressed as financial accessibility, has a positive effect on reducing income inequality. Furthermore, we estimate the effect of such financial inclusion on economic growth by reducing income inequality. From the results of our empirical analysis, we can draw the following three conclusions. First, income inequality has a very negative effect on GDP growth. The negative relationship between income inequality and GDP growth is strong in low-income countries. In addition, income inequality has a stronger effect on reducing economic growth in high-fragility countries. Second, progressivity is not a major factor in reducing income inequality in low-income countries or in high-fragility countries. Finally, financial inclusion improves the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. The reduction in income inequality through financial inclusion changes the negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth into a positive relationship. This trend is stronger in high-fragility countries than in low-fragility countries.     

Gini Indices and the Redistribution of Income

Just as the Gini inequality index captures people's relative deprivation (Yitzhaki, 1979), so, we show in this paper, Gini-based progressivity and horizontal inequity indices capture individual perceptions of relative fiscal harshness and ill-fortune. In fact, we find that these links between individualistic perceptions and the measurement of the distribution and redistribution of income generalise to the family of indices based on the extended Ginis of Donaldson and Weymark (1980) and Yitzhaki (1983). Through 'leaky bucket' experiments, we also suggest how we can parameterise the inequality aversion present in these indices. Analysis of the Canadian gross and net income distributions (conducted using recently developed statistical inference procedures) shows the distribution and the aggregation of these individual indicators of relative deprivation, fiscal harshness and ill-fortune in 1981 and in 1990.     

On the Provision of Insurance against Search‐Induced Wage Fluctuations*

Should workers be provided with insurance against search‐induced wage fluctuations? To answer this question, I rely on the numerical simulations of a model of on‐the‐job search and precautionary savings. The model is calibrated to low‐skilled workers in the United States. The extent of insurance is determined by the degree of progressivity of a non‐linear transfer schedule. The fundamental trade‐off is that a more generous provision of insurance reduces incentives to search for better‐paying jobs, which increases the cost of providing insurance. I show that progressivity raises the search intensity of unemployed workers, which reduces the equilibrium rate of unemployment, but it lowers the search intensity of employed job seekers, which reduces the output level. I also solve numerically for the optimal non‐linear transfer schedule. The optimal policy is to provide little insurance up to a monthly income level of $1350, so as to preserve incentives to move up the wage ladder, and nearly full insurance above $1450. This policy reduces the standard deviation of labor income net of transfers by 34 per cent and generates a consumption‐equivalent welfare gain of 0.7 per cent. The absence of private savings does not fundamentally change the shape of the optimal transfer function, but tilts the optimal policy towards more insurance, at the expense of a less efficient allocation of workers across jobs.     

我国个人所得税真的很累进吗

目前有很多研究得出了我国个人所得税具有很高累进性的结论。文章质疑这种结论,认为个人所得税的高累进性仅局限在一定的收入范围。在区分狭义、中义、广义三种收入的基础上,文章计算了2008年个人所得税在这些收入下的累进性。结果显示,个人所得税的累进性在三种收入下逐渐减小,广义收入的累进性远低于国际水平。这表明了在收入完整性很差的情形下,个人所得税是不可能得到很高累进性的,狭义收入下计算的个人所得税具有较高累进性只是一种虚幻的表面现象。