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on Public Economics |
| By: | Hitoshi Tsujiyama (Goethe University Frankfurt); Jonathan Heathcote (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a quantitative exploration of optimal income tax design in the Mirrlees tradition, and asks how nearly simple parametric tax functions can decentralize constrained efficient allocations. The environment features both observable and unobservable components of idiosyncratic labor productivity, and both public and private insurance. Given a social welfare function that rationalizes the amount of redistribution built into the current US tax code, we find that potential welfare gains from tax reform are very small. We also find that it is more important that the tax system features marginal tax rates that increase with income than that it feature universal lump-sum transfers. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:260&r=pbe |
| By: | Panos Tsakloglou; Francesco Figari; Alari Paulus; Holly Sutherland; Gerlinde Verbist; Francesca Zantomio |
| Abstract: | Imputed rental income of homeowners is tax exempt in most countries, despite the long-standing arguments recommending its inclusion in the tax base, on both equity and efficiency grounds. The current fiscal crisis revived interest towards this form of taxation. The paper investigates the fiscal and distributional consequences of including homeowners’ imputed rent, net of mortgage interest and maintenance costs, in taxable income as any cash income source that extends consumption opportunities. Three scenarios are analysed in six European countries: in the first imputed rent is included in the taxable income of homeowners, while at the same time existing mortgage interest tax relief schemes and taxation of cadastral incomes are abolished. In two further revenue-neutral scenarios, the additional tax revenue raised through the taxation of imputed rent is redistributed to taxpayers, either through a proportional rebate or a lump-sum tax credit. Results show how including net imputed rent in the tax base might affect inequality in each of the countries considered. Housing taxation appears to be a promising avenue for raising additional revenues, or lightening taxation of labour, with no inequality-increasing side-effects. See above See above |
| Keywords: | See above, Impact and scenario analysis, Microsimulation models |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:7474&r=pbe |
| By: | Johannes Pauser; Holger Gillet |
| Abstract: | - The paper examines efficiency in public input provision in two large jurisdictions with imperfect labour markets. - It analyses how equilibrium capital tax rates and public input provision levels differ between asymmetric jurisdictions that can strategically influence the interest rate on the common capital market in an international tax competition setting. - The corresponding lack in research and the motivation of the paper is explained in section 1 of the paper. - We use an international tax competition setting with public inputs (productive public goods) where regions are asymmetric (non-price-taking environment) and labour markets are distorted. - Decentralised jurisdictions maximise welfare of employed and unemployed individuals (benevolent governments). - Analysis of the decentralised Nash-equilibrium (Cournot-Nash), where policy makers select tax and expenditure instruments strategically to maximise the welfare in their region (for various tax games). - Comparative statics analysis of the reaction of capital and labour to a change in policy instruments: Public inputs, source-based capital taxes, head taxes. - Derivation of equilibrium capital tax rates, labour tax rates, and public input provision levels for different tax games. - The non-cooperative equilibrium is inefficient also when governments have capital and head taxes at disposal. - As a source of both the distortion in the capital allocation between jurisdictions and the inefficiency in public input provision, we identify the governments' incentives to decrease unemployment, as well as fiscal and pecuniary externalities. - Efficiency in public input provision can be restored, if the set of fiscal instruments available for regional policy makers is extended by a labour tax. |
| Keywords: | Global (International), Tax policy, Labor market issues |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:7098&r=pbe |
| By: | Anda Nugroho; Rita Helbra Tenrini |
| Abstract: | A large portion of the Indonesian population is entering the middle-class as its economy is growing rapidly. Nielsen, a leading media research said that currently, middle class in Indonesia is the third-largest in the world. There are about 74 million middle classes in Indonesia, and this number will double by 2020. In the other hand, economic growth also creates a problem of rising inequality. Inequality in Indonesia is worsened as the Gini index increasing from 0.308 in 1999 to 0,41 in 2011. Both conditions, rising middle class and increasing inequalities create a challenge for policy maker to design optimal Personal Income Tax (PIT) system that can capture the tax potential from middle class growth and at the meantime improving the inequality. In developing countries like Indonesia the tax system has been aimed at increasing government revenues as for the past 10 years, the personal income tax revenue has increased from 19,5 trillion rupiah in 2002 to 83,3 trillion rupiah in 2012. More than that, the income tax is also supposed to be used as a public policy instrument to alter after-tax income distribution. The purpose of this paper is to design a personal income tax system that can capture the increase in tax potential as the middle class growth and also promote better income distribution in Indonesia. Using microsimulaiton and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach, we quantitatively analyze the way proposed PIT system affect government revenue and alter the inequality of the income distribution. First, we propose some PIT systems and quantify the way they affect after tax income by using the micro data. Next, we employ CGE model and execute the simulation to calculate the effect of proposed PIT systems on the Indonesian economy. We use Indofiscal (2011), a CGE model of the Indonesian economy with a focus on fiscal policy. The model has capability of evaluating a range of fiscal policy, including personal income taxes. The research seeks to design a personal income tax system that can capture the increase in tax potential as the middle class growth and also promote better income distribution in Indonesia. The result will help the policy makers to design a better income tax system in responding to the current situation of middle income growth and rising inequality. |
| Keywords: | Indonesia, Tax policy, Impact and scenario analysis |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:7017&r=pbe |
| By: | Kwasi Camara OBENG; Vijay K. Bhasin |
| Abstract: | This study examined the impact of using corporate tax to compensate for lost tariff revenue from trade liberalization on poverty in Ghana. Trade has been considerably liberalized in Ghana, which necessitated fiscal reforms to make up for the shortfall in government revenue. As part of the fiscal reforms, the corporate tax rate was reduced for all sectors and the basis for assessment changed from profits to income. Recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium modeling The results showed that the reduction in the incidence, depth and severity of poverty at the national and household levels is greater when corporate tax rate is increased than when it is reduced. |
| Keywords: | Ghana, Trade issues, Impact and scenario analysis |
| Date: | 2013–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:004912:5335&r=pbe |
| By: | Vitor Carvalho; Ricardo Silva; Ana Paula Ribeiro |
| Abstract: | In the current context where the limited role for monetary policy instruments apparently endows fiscal policy with higher effectiveness, European fiscal policy authorities are rather constrained by the fact of most countries being struggling against recessions together with the need to put public finances in a sustainable path. In this context, we assess how large are fiscal multipliers in Europe, for both aggregated and disaggregated spending and revenue variables. Moreover, we analyze how cycle phases and fiscal consolidation episodes shape the size of fiscal multipliers. We present evidence for the Euro area, relying on a VAR model with pooled annual data from 1998 to 2008. Estimation results show that, on average, transfers are the main driving force for the overall expenditure dynamics; moreover, wages exhibit negative impacts on output while positive effects are strongly driven by shocks in public investment and, to a lesser extent, by intermediate consumption. On the revenue side, all items impinge negatively on output growth. Additionally, our results show that public spending multiplier is positive in recessions while in expansions is smaller, inclusively, negative. Similarly, the effectiveness of the tax multiplier is, also, higher in recessions. Finally, we have found that consolidation phases affect negatively the size of multipliers. |
| Keywords: | Euro Area, Public finance, Macroeconometric modeling |
| Date: | 2013–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:004912:5276&r=pbe |
| By: | Moorashin Javan |
| Abstract: | Although there are several papers in the literature that look at the theoretical effects of automatic stabilizers and its efficiency, few of them present empirical evidence. This paper conducts an empirical study of the effects of fiscal policy as an automatic stabilizer.In the first part of this paper attempt was made to study cyclicality of fiscal policy, for this purpose panel data method were applied to 8 opec member countries for the 1980-2010 period. The main purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the fiscal policy (measured by government expenditures and tax revenues) and volatility of business cycle (measured by GDP, private GDP) among 8 opec member countries for the period 1980-2010 by applying panel data. Furthermore, we check for the robustness of our results by introducing a list of controls (openness, GDP, GDP per capital and GDP growth).The results reveal that the fiscal policy for the countries under consideration is acyclical. The results present strong and negative correlation between tax revenues (deflated by GDP) and volatility of output and also government expenditures (deflated by GDP) are positively correlated with the volatility of output. The derived results indicate that tax revenues as an efficient fiscal policy help smoothing the volatility of output while government expenditures accelerate the volatility of output. So, this results support the idea that countries which are exposed to more volatile business cycle, want to increase tax revenues (deflated by GDP) to help smoothing their volatility. |
| Keywords: | selected opec members countries, Business cycles, Tax policy |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:6904&r=pbe |
| By: | Kabukcuoglu, Ayse (Koc University) |
| Abstract: | I quantify the welfare effects of replacing the US capital income tax with higher labor income taxes under international financial integration using a two-country, heterogeneous-agent incomplete markets model calibrated to represent the US and the rest of the world. Short-run and long-run factor price dynamics are key: after the tax reform, interest rates rise less under financial openness than in autarky. Therefore, wealthy households gain less. Post-tax wages also fall less as a result of the faster capital accumulation, so the poor are hurt less. Hence, the distributional impacts of the reform are significantly dampened relative to autarky although a majority of households prefer the status quo. Aggregate welfare effect to the US is a permanent 0.2% consumption equivalent loss under financial openness which is roughly 15% of the welfare loss under autarky. |
| Keywords: | tax reform; welfare |
| JEL: | D52 E62 F41 |
| Date: | 2014–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:188&r=pbe |
| By: | Mario Jametti; Marcelin Joanis |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically investigates the underlying determinants of expenditure decentralization, based on the predictions of a new political economy model of partial decentralization. The analysis is based on an agency model, in which two levels of government are involved in the provision of a public good and voters are imperfectly informed about each government’s contribution to the good, creating a shared accountability problem. Under shared expenditure responsibility, the degree of decentralization is endogenous and depends on the relative political conditions prevailing at each level of government. Consistent with the model’s predictions, empirical results from a panel of Canadian provinces show that decentralization in a province increases with the electoral strength of the provincial government and decreases with the electoral strength of the federal government, in addition to being affected significantly by the partisan affiliation of both levels of government. A series of alternative empirical specifications, including an IV regression exploiting campaign spending data, are presented to assess the robustness of these results. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal decentralization, fiscal federalism, vertical interactions, partial decentralization, elections, |
| Date: | 2014–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2014s-28&r=pbe |
| By: | Guntur Sugiyarto |
| Abstract: | The standard theory on optimal commodity taxation is incomplete in the sense that it ignores the fact that taxation -as a system- is attributed with administrative and other costs. The costs could be very large even for the theoretically optimum one. In addition, its application requires estimations of preference and elasticities that can be unobtainable for developing countries. The common practice of applying a uniform rate across sectors does not always produce better results. Therefore, in the second best situation it might be useful to focus on minimising the taxation costs. A CGE model representative to the Indonesian economy is developed to examine this issue by first assessing the marginal excess burden and welfare costs of the existing commodity taxation. The latter is then used as a basis for designing an optimal allocation of commodity taxation. The results suggest that most sectors have already been over taxed and the existing tax system is not an efficient way for collecting revenue. The proposed commodity tax rates will give much better results for the economy, welfare and even for the government revenue. See above See above |
| Keywords: | Indonesia, Tax and public finance, General equilibrium modeling |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:6990&r=pbe |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam; Loeprick, Jan |
| Abstract: | Using a panel of administrative data and regression discontinuity analysis, this paper examines how the introduction of preferential tax regimes for Georgian micro and small businesses in 2010 affects formal firm creation and tax compliance. The results show that the new tax regime for micro businesses increased the number of newly registered formal firms by 18-30 percent below the eligibility threshold during the first year of the reform, but not in subsequent years. The analysis does not find an effect of the new tax regime for small businesses on formal firm creation in any year. Policy makers are often concerned about abuse risks stemming from differentiated tax treatment of micro and small businesses. The analysis in this paper reveals reduced tax compliance in 2010 around the micro business eligibility threshold, but does not find significant evidence of reduced compliance by Georgian firms in later years. The results also do not show any significant evidence of strategic sorting around the regime eligibility thresholds. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Taxation&Subsidies,Microfinance,Emerging Markets,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2014–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7010&r=pbe |
| By: | Cebula, Richard; Clark, Jeff |
| Abstract: | Using panel data for OECD nations for the period 2003-2009, the fixed-effects estimations in this study all provide strong support for the three central hypotheses considered here, namely: (1) the standard of living in a nation, measured in this study as the level of purchasing-power-parity adjusted per capita real GDP in the nation, depends directly upon the overall economic freedom index, presumably at least in part due to the ability of increased economic freedom to elevate the level of economic activity through incentives to work, invest, save, hire/dismiss, make market-based business decisions, and take risk and engage in risk-reward economic behaviors in a market-based economy; (2) the living standard depends directly on the index of regulatory quality, because high quality regulation interferes less with the efficient functioning of firms’ decision-making processes in a market-based economy and contributes less to firms’ production costs, and (3) the standard of living is a decreasing function of the tax burden, expressed as a percent of GDP because higher tax burdens reduce the growth rate of disposable income and thereby limit the growth rate of the ability to purchase new goods and services and hence reduce/restrict the level of economic activity. |
| Keywords: | economic freedom; regulation; taxation; living standards |
| JEL: | H22 H24 O47 P14 P16 |
| Date: | 2014–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58108&r=pbe |
| By: | Daniel Oto Peralías; Diego Romero-Ávila; Carlos Usabiaga |
| Abstract: | The current economic crisis has led several rich countries to experience severe fiscal deficits. Among other factors responsible for the situation, corruption is considered harmful to public finances and appears closely related to fiscal deficits. This paper opens a new avenue in addressing the effects of corruption on public deficits through fiscal decentralization. Focusing on a sample of 31 OECD countries over the period 1986-2010, we find that fiscal decentralization contributes to mitigating the perverse effects of corruption in public deficits. In addition, our findings indicate heterogeneity in the effect of fiscal decentralization, since it appears related to lower deficits in countries with higher levels of corruption, but not in less corrupt countries. Therefore, the results suggest that bringing the government closer to the people in relatively corrupt countries may lead to a more responsible fiscal management See above See above |
| Keywords: | Spain, Public finance, Public finance |
| Date: | 2013–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:004912:5690&r=pbe |
| By: | Gábor Kátay; Péter Benczúr; Áron Kiss; Olivér M. Rácz |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a unified parametric approach to estimate the impact of taxes and transfers on the participation decision. We extend existing structural form methodologies by considering the effect of both taxes and transfers. In our framework, participation probabilities are determined by the comparison of disposable income in and out of the labour force, consisting of the (often non-observed) amount of transfers and non-labour income an individual gets if not working and the gains to work (GTW; change in disposable income if accepting a job offer, the sum of net wages and lost transfers). Identification is achieved by utilizing a multitude of tax and transfer reforms. Unlike in the existing literature, our results allow a general assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of government interventions into the labour market, and more importantly, a micro-based prediction of the impact of tax and welfare reforms.The underlying theory leads to a structural probit equation which relates participation probabilities to gains to work from a full time job, the total amount of non-labour income (including the hypothetical amount of transfers one gets or would get at zero hours worked) and other individual characteristics. The unobserved hypothetical amount of transfers are backed up using individual characteristics and the welfare system’s details for every given year. The estimation process follows the often used three step procedure, as e.g. in Kimmel and Kniesner (1998). The key element of the identification is the careful choice of labour demand shifters, i.e. the variables which have no (or negligible) impact on labour supply directly, but strongly impact the wage and hence impacts activity indirectly. We argue that county dummies and (once we control for individuals’ lifecycle position with a large set of dummy variables) individuals’ age are such variables.Using data from the Hungarian Household Budget Survey, we find that a single equation can already explain a large heterogeneity of individual responsiveness to taxes and transfers: there are large differences among subgroups, driven partly by a composition effect, and partly by a different share of lost transfers in the GTW. The most responsive subgroups are low-skilled, (married) women at child-bearing age and elders, while prime-age higher educated individuals are practically unresponsive to tax and transfer changes at the extensive margin. As an illustration, we fed the main changes of the Hungarian personal income tax and transfer system of 2012 into this framework. We find that the complete elimination of the employee tax credit scheme, a reduction in the tax rate (from 20,3% to 16%) below the average monthly income and a 1 percentage point increase in the social contribution rate overall lead to a decrease in aggregate activity by about one percent. |
| Keywords: | Hungary, Tax policy, Labor market issues |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:6925&r=pbe |
| By: | Loriane Py; Antoine Bozio; Delphine Irac |
| Abstract: | R&D and innovation are seen as key determinants of productivity and competitiveness and it has been recognized that the low growth performances of EU countries of the last decades can largely be attributable to their poor research performance, as compared to the US. As a consequence, most EU countries, in particular since the adoption of the Lisbon strategy, have provided tax incentives to increase business R&D, which still remains below the targeted level of 2% of GDP. In the actual context of large public deficit and given the amount of public spending involved, it is crucial to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of these policies. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this literature by evaluating the impact of the research tax credit system on both R&D investments and innovation. In our empirical analysis, we focus on the 2008 French reform, which was marked by the adoption of a pure volume-based scheme.Our empirical analysis relies on an ex post econometric evaluation of the 2008 reform. It is based on the combination of four datasets over the period 2004-2010: i) the yearly survey on R&D investments conducted by the French Ministry of Research which contains detailed information on firms' R&D, ii) the PATSTAT dataset of the European Patent Office which enables us to measure innovation at the firm-level (as measured by a count of the number of patents) iii) the tax files which enables us to identify all the firms in France which benefit from the research tax credit as well as it amount, and iv) the FIBEN dataset of the Banque de France which is used to control for firms' economic and financial characteristics. Our final sample includes 48,111 firms, from which 51.3% have taken advantage of the research tax credit. Our econometric strategy relies on the implementation of a difference in difference which amounts to comparing R&D and innovation outcome for firms which benefit from the research tax credit and for those which do not, before and after the implementation of the reform. The fact that each year in France, nearly 49% of firms which are registered in the R&D survey and which have positive R&D expenditures do not ask for the research tax credit can have several explanations: firms might not be aware of the policy, their R&D activities might not be eligible to the tax credit, asking for the research tax credit might be too complex and costly or firms might want to avoid a tax audit. Nevertheless, as we cannot exclude the possibility of a selection bias in the sample of treated and control firms, we also implemented propensity score matching analysis and are currently trying to refine our empirical strategy by using the suppression of the research tax credit ceiling. Our preliminary results suggest that firms which did benefit from the R&D tax credit relative to those that did not ask for it have significantly increased their R&D expenditures after the 2008 reform. Our results also show that the estimated elasticity differs when we focus on the intensive margin (i.e. when the sample is limited to firms which already ask for the research tax credit before the reform) as the reform led to a large number of firm entry in the tax credit scheme which are relatively smaller in terms of R&D investments. More importantly, we do not find evidence of a significant impact on innovation as measured by the number of patents at the firm level, up to 2 years after the implementation of the reform. Though the time span of analysis is short and that patenting can take more years, these preliminary results suggest that the effects of research tax credit on innovation might be more limited than expected. Finally, our results enable us to shed light on the relative effectiveness of the volume scheme as compared to the incremental one. |
| Keywords: | France, Tax policy, Impact and scenario analysis |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:6873&r=pbe |
| By: | Mario Fortuna; Francisco Silva; Ricardo Carreiro |
| Abstract: | The equalization effects of transfer systems has been the subject of analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of redistribution policies and of the adequacy of revenue sharing mechanisms in providing sub national governments with adequate resources to undertake their public responsibilities. Achieving vertical and horizontal equalization among municipalities is an important issue both for long-term growth and financial stability. Reducing horizontal and vertical dissimilarities and promoting efficiency and equity is a common objective of the systems set up in many countries. In this regard, Portugal is no exception having introduced several reforms in the transfer system since the final decades of the 20th Century. Using panel data for all the municipalities, for the 1997-2010 period, this paper tests and evaluates whether there has been an equalization effect in the system of transfers to the municipalities. It also tests whether the various regulatory changes introduced improved or worsened the equalization effects. The use of panel data models permitted the use of a larger number of observations, increasing the number of degrees of freedom and decreasing collinearity between the explanatory variables as well as a better control for unobserved heterogeneity. The results show that on average the municipalities with the highest GDP per capita and own revenues per capita receive more transfers per capita, which suggests that the system does not contribute to equalization. It is also concluded that the successive changes of the system, namely those undertaken in 1998 and 2007, were significant in improving the equalization impact of the system. See above See above |
| Keywords: | Portugal, Regional modeling, Impact and scenario analysis |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:7419&r=pbe |
| By: | Sungmoon Jung; Yeo Yeongjun; Jeong-Dong Lee |
| Abstract: | In the article, we analyze that how the innovative activity affects to income redistribution, which have been considered for prolonged period. The effect of spending on R&D usually affects to higher income level; however, the lower income group also becomes easier to approach to high-tech devices since the internet have developed. Both of groups could earn same information in the same time in spite of different income level. According to the fact, we examine how the R&D investment impact to the each income group. We employ the dynamic Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) model in order to measure the aggregate effect, reflecting the channels of the positive and negative effects and considering the reactions of individual industries and economic agents that it follows in change of public and private R&D expenditure. The result reveals that the R&D spending affect positively to economic growth, but it brings about negative effect on income distribution. In addition, we find a skill-biased technological change in South Korea. |
| Keywords: | South Korea, General equilibrium modeling, Growth |
| Date: | 2014–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:006356:7045&r=pbe |
| By: | Martin Gregor |
| Abstract: | This paper builds spatial microfoundations for the functional forms used in the analysis of inter-jurisdictional public spending spillovers. The paper introduces a symmetric bilateral model that distinguishes between three stages: production of multiple public inputs (intermediary goods), production of multiple public outputs (final goods) including asymmetries and non-additive aggregations, and consumption of the public outputs with asymmetries and preferences for variety. The paper identifies sufficient conditions for the different combinations of the features to be isomorphic. Additionally, it analyzes which microfoundations for the inter-jurisdictional spillovers lead to asymmetrically structured demands for public spending. |
| Keywords: | Any decentralized country, Public finance, Regional modeling |
| Date: | 2013–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ekd:004912:5193&r=pbe |