The Distributional Impact of Ireland's Indirect Tax System


Book Description

Exploring the extent to which Ireland's indirect taxes may account for a higher proportion of household income at the lower end of the income distribution spectrum, this text considers the figures and data which suggest this may be the case.




The Distributional Effects of Indirect Taxes


Book Description

This book develops a number of analytical models and presents empirical analyses of the equity and efficiency effects of existing indirect taxes from New Zealand. Potential tax reforms including environmental taxes are also examined and the methods presented can easily be adapted to deal with other countries. Policy debates are inevitably influenced by value judgements, which are seldom made explicit either by governments or those engaging in public discussion. By concentrating on the empirical orders of magnitude, and by examining the implications of adopting alternative value judgements, the findings of this book contribute towards rational policy debate, rather than relying on guesswork and rhetoric. The equity and efficiency effects of indirect taxes are examined in detail, using the central concepts of welfare changes, the excess burden of taxation, and money metric utility measures. The indirect taxes examined include a carbon tax designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Distributional Effects of Indirect Taxes develops widely applicable models and will therefore appeal to economists interested in public economics, tax policy, inequality measurement, welfare economics and tax modelling. Economists in government departments and international agencies interested in public finance and inequality and poverty measurement will also find much to engage them in this book, as will policymakers concerned with indirect and environmental tax policy, inequality, and welfare economics.




Taxing Wages 2021


Book Description

This annual publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. It covers personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers, and cash benefits received by workers. Taxing Wages 2021 includes a special feature entitled: “Impact of COVID-19 on the Tax Wedge in OECD Countries”.




Fiscal Redistribution and Social Welfare


Book Description

Fiscal policy is a key tool for achieving distributional objectives in advanced economies. This paper embeds the discussion of fiscal redistribution within the standard social welfare framework, which lends itself to a transparent and practical evaluation of the extent and determinants of fiscal redistribution. Differences in fiscal redistribution are decomposed into differences in the magnitude of transfers (fiscal effort) and in the progressivity of transfers (fiscal progressivity). Fiscal progressivity is further decomposed into differences in the distribution of transfers across income groups (targeting performance) and in the social welfare returns to targeting due to varying initial levels of income inequality (targeting returns). This decomposition provides a clear distinction between the concepts of progressivity and targeting, and clarifies the relationship between them. For illustrative purposes, the framework is applied to data for 28 EU countries to determine the factors explaining differences in their fiscal redistribution and to discuss patterns in fiscal redistribution highlighted in the literature.




The Poverty and Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: Channels and Policy Implications


Book Description

Addressing the poverty and distributional impacts of carbon pricing reforms is critical for the success of ambitious actions in the fight against climate change. This paper uses a simple framework to systematically review the channels through which carbon pricing can potentially affect poverty and inequality. It finds that the channels differ in important ways along several dimensions. The paper also identifies several key gaps in the current literature and discusses some considerations on how policy designs could take into account the attributes of the channels in mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing reforms on households.




The Tax System in Mexico


Book Description




Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries


Book Description

The Fund has long played a lead role in supporting developing countries’ efforts to improve their revenue mobilization. This paper draws on that experience to review issues and good practice, and to assess prospects in this key area.




The Distributional Implications of the Impact of Fuel Price Increases on Inflation


Book Description

This paper investigates the response of consumer price inflation to changes in domestic fuel prices, looking at the different categories of the overall consumer price index (CPI). We then combine household survey data with the CPI components to construct a CPI index for the poorest and richest income quintiles with the view to assess the distributional impact of the pass-through. To undertake this analysis, the paper provides an update to the Global Monthly Retail Fuel Price Database, expanding the product coverage to premium and regular fuels, the time dimension to December 2020, and the sample to 190 countries. Three key findings stand out. First, the response of inflation to gasoline price shocks is smaller, but more persistent and broad-based in developing economies than in advanced economies. Second, we show that past studies using crude oil prices instead of retail fuel prices to estimate the pass-through to inflation significantly underestimate it. Third, while the purchasing power of all households declines as fuel prices increase, the distributional impact is progressive. But the progressivity phases out within 6 months after the shock in advanced economies, whereas it persists beyond a year in developing countries.




The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Transfers


Book Description

The World Bank has partnered with the Commitment to Equity Institute at Tulane University to implement their diagnostic tool—the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Assessment—designed to assess how taxation and public expenditures affect income inequality, poverty, and different economic groups. The approach relies on comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis, which measures the contribution of each individual intervention to poverty and inequality reduction as well as the combined impact of taxes and social spending. The CEQ Assessment provide an evidence base upon which alternative reform options can be analyzed. The use of a common methodology makes the results comparable across countries. This volume presents eight country studies that examine the distributional effects of individual programs and policy measures—and the net effect of each country’s mix of policies and programs. These case studies were produced in the context of Bank policy dialogue and have since been used to propose alternative reform options.




New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health


Book Description

An introduction to state-of-the-art modeling and simulation approaches for social and economic determinants of population health New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health offers a comprehensive introduction to modeling and simulation that addresses the many complex research questions in social epidemiology and public health. This book highlights a variety of practical applications and illustrative examples with a focus on modeling and simulation approaches for the social and economic determinants of population health. The book contains classic case examples in agent-based modeling (ABM) as well as essential information on ABM applications to public health including for infectious disease modeling, obesity, and tobacco control. This book also surveys applications of microsimulation (MSM) including of tax-benefit policies to project impacts of the social determinants of health. Specifically, this book: Provides an overview of the social determinants of health and the public health significance of addressing the social determinants of health Gives a conceptual foundation for the application of ABM and MSM to study the social determinants of health Offers methodological introductions to both ABM and MSM approaches with illustrative examples Includes cutting-edge systematic reviews of empirical applications of ABM and MSM in the social sciences, social epidemiology, and public health Discusses future directions for empirical research using ABM and MSM, including integrating aspects of both ABM and MSM and implications for public health policies Written for a broad audience of policy analysts, public planners, and researchers and practitioners in public health and public policy including social epidemiologists, New Horizons in Modeling and Simulation for Social Epidemiology and Public Health offers a fundamental guide to the social determinants of health and state-of-the-art applications of ABM and MSM to studying the social and economic determinants of population health.