Arbeitspapier

Progressive tax reforms in flat tax countries

Much of the literature on flat tax reforms has highlighted the benefits of introducing flat personal income tax systems in transition economies. The advocated benefits of flat tax systems range from their simplicity, higher compliance and lower distortionary effects on growth and employment. These arguments have often been cited to support policy recommendations favouring the adoption of flat tax systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the 1990s and the 2000s. However since income inequality is notoriously high in these countries, the question of introducing some progressivity in the tax system has come to the fore in both policy and academic circles. In this paper, we analyse the fiscal, redistributive and macroeconomic impact of (re-)introducing progressivity in a number of CEE countries with flat tax systems. Combining microsimulation and macro models, we find that a significant reduction in income inequality can be achieved by moving from a flat to a progressive tax system with positive, albeit negligible, macroeconomic and employment impact. The magnitude of these effects depends on country-specificities and tax system characteristics, due in particular to the existence of tax allowances and tax credits.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: JRC Working Papers on Taxation and Structural Reforms ; No. 02/2018

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household
Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Thema
Flat tax
microsimulation model
DSGE model
inequality progressivity
employment
growth

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Barrios, Salvador
Ivaskaite-Tamosiune, Viginta
Maftei, Anamaria
Narazani, Edlira
Varga, Janos
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)
(wo)
Seville
(wann)
2018

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Barrios, Salvador
  • Ivaskaite-Tamosiune, Viginta
  • Maftei, Anamaria
  • Narazani, Edlira
  • Varga, Janos
  • European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

Entstanden

  • 2018

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