Horizontal equity in the German tax-benefit system: A simulation approach for employees

Arbeitspapier

We analyze the distributive justice of the combined burden of taxes, social security contributions and public transfers on employee households. In order to investigate whether the treatment of families by the aggregate tax-benefit system can be regarded as 'fair', we compare the equivalent incomes of eight different household types. Using the concepts of system-inherent equivalence scales and horizontal equity we find evidence for a structural discrimination of low income families, while families in the high income brackets tend to be privileged. The equity in the treatment of a household type is not only affected by the amount but also by the distribution of income between the household members. Based on these results we can state a significant contradiction of value judgments within the German tax-benefit system. From the perspective of our paper, there is no convincing justification for this inconsistency.

Angaben zum Objekt

• ISBN: 978-3-941240-13-1
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Diskussionsbeiträge ; No. 2010/1

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
• Thema: horizontal equity ; family taxation ; distributive justice ; tax-benefit system ; equivalent income ; Steuerbelastung ; Sozialtransfer ; Privater Haushalt ; Einkommensverteilung ; Disparitätsmaß ; Lebensstandard ; Deutschland

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Bönke, Timm ; Eichfelder, Sebastian
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaft
• (wo): Berlin
• (wann): 2010

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/36681
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ