scholarly journals The Impact of Labor Income Tax Progressivity on the Fiscal Multipliers in the Context of the Fiscal Consolidation

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Mariana Santos

Fiscal multipliers depend on several structural characteristics of each economy. In this study it is argued that labor income tax progressivity lowers the fiscal multipliers of fiscal consolidation programs. By calibrating an incomplete‑ markets, overlapping generations model for the United States for different values of the labor income tax progressivity, it is shown that as progressivity increases the recessionary impacts of fiscal consolidation are lower in the case of consolidation through decrease of government spending and are more recessionary in the case of consolidation financed with tax hikes.

2009 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Conesa ◽  
Sagiri Kitao ◽  
Dirk Krueger

We quantitatively characterize the optimal capital and labor income tax in an overlapping generations model with idiosyncratic, uninsurable income shocks and permanent productivity differences of households. The optimal capital income tax rate is significantly positive at 36 percent. The optimal progressive labor income tax is, roughly, a flat tax of 23 percent with a deduction of $7,200 (relative to average household income of $42,000). The high optimal capital income tax is mainly driven by the life-cycle structure of the model, whereas the optimal progressivity of the labor income tax is attributable to the insurance and redistribution role of the tax system. (JEL E13, H21, H24, H25)


2020 ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Ana Ferreira

Since the 1980s, income inequality has increased markedly and has reached the highest level ever since it started being recorded in the U.S. This paper uses an overlapping generations model with incomplete markets that allows for household heterogeneity that is calibrated to match the U.S. economy with the purpose to study how skill-biased technological change (SBTC) and changes in taxation quantitatively account for the increase in inequality from 1980 to 2010. We find that SBTC and taxation decrease account for 48% of the total increase in the income Gini coefficient. In particular, we conclude that SBTC alone accounted for 42% of the overall increase in income inequality, while changes in the progressivity of the income tax schedule alone accounted for 5.7%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-145
Author(s):  
M. Krajňák ◽  

Legislation governing personal income taxation is often subject to changes. A significant personal income tax reform was carried out in the Czech Republic in 2021. The reform implements a progressive tax rate, changes the way the tax base is determined, and increases the tax relief for the taxpayer. The aim of the article is to evaluate the impact of the personal income tax reform on the effective tax rate and tax progressivity. To that end, methods of regression analysis have been used. The source of information for analysis was the data published by the Czech Statistical Office. It was found that in 2021, in comparison with 2020, the tax burden represented in this study by the effective tax rate, in all cases became lower, approximately by 5%. The main reason for this decline is the adjustment of the method of construction of the tax base, which, for the first time in the history of the Income Tax Act, is gross wages. Until the end of 2020, the tax base was a super-gross wage, or the gross wage increased by social security contribution borne by the employer at his costs. The second factor that reduces the tax burden is a CZK 3,000 increase in the deduction per taxpayer per year. This fact increases the degree of tax progressivity, as confirmed by the results of the progressivity analysis and the regression analysis. The changes that have taken place in the personal income tax this year have a positive impact on the taxpayer, but from the point of view of the state, this reform has reduced the state budget revenues.


2019 ◽  
pp. 225-274
Author(s):  
Tom Best ◽  
Oliver Bush ◽  
Luc Eyraud ◽  
M. Belen Sbrancia

If debt is too high, what policies are available to governments to reduce these debt obligations? This chapter goes through all options, short of default. It begins by introducing the standard debt accumulation equation, noting the key terms, such as the growth–interest rate differential; and their relation to policies. Once this is established, the more conventional strategies for reducing debt—promoting growth and fiscal consolidation—are explored. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of fiscal multipliers, and the factors that influence their magnitude. The chapter then moves on to more unconventional policies, such as inflation, seigniorage and financial repression.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Piketty ◽  
Emmanuel Saez

This paper provides estimates of federal tax rates by income groups in the United States since 1960, with special emphasis on very top income groups. We include individual and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes. The progressivity of the U.S. federal tax system at the top of the income distribution has declined dramatically since the 1960s. This dramatic drop in progressivity is due primarily to a drop in corporate taxes and in estate and gift taxes combined with a sharp change in the composition of top incomes away from capital income and toward labor income. The sharp drop in statutory top marginal individual income tax rates has contributed only moderately to the decline in tax progressivity. International comparisons confirm that is it critical to take into account other taxes than the individual income tax to properly assess the extent of overall tax progressivity, both for time trends and for cross-country comparisons. The pattern for the United Kingdom is similar to the U.S. pattern. France had less progressive taxes than the United States or the United Kingdom in 1970 but has experienced an increase in tax progressivity and has now a more progressive tax system than the United States or the United Kingdom.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
HE HUANG ◽  
SELAHATTIN İMROHOROGˇLU ◽  
THOMAS J. SARGENT

We use a general equilibrium model to study the impact of fully funding social security on the distribution of consumption across cohorts and over time. In an initial stationary equilibrium with an unfunded social security system, the capital/output ratio, debt/output ratio, and rate of return to capital are 3.2, 0.6, and 6.8%, respectively. In our first experiment, we suddenly terminate social security payments but compensate entitled generations by a massive one-time increase in government debt. Eventually, the aggregate physical capital stock rises by 40%, the return on capital falls to 4.4%, and the labor income tax rate falls from 33.9 to 14%. We estimate the size of the entitlement debt to be 2.7 times real GDP, which is paid off by levying a 38% labor income tax rate during the first 40 years of the transition. In our second experiment, we leave social security benefits untouched but force the government temporarily to increase the tax on labor income so as gradually to accumulate private physical capital, from the proceeds of which it eventually finances social security payments. This particular government-run funding scheme delivers larger efficiency gains (in both the exogenous and endogenous price cases) than privatization, an outcome stemming from the scheme's public provision of insurance both against life-span risk and labor income volatility.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warwick J. McKibbin ◽  
Andrew B. Stoeckel

The buildup in government debt in response to the “great recession,” has raised a number of policy dilemmas for individual countries as well as the world as a whole. The recent need for a change of fiscal policy stance has fuelled debates about the impact of fiscal consolidation on domestic economies that are tightening, the flow-on effects to the world economy, and also about how much tightening there should be and how quickly it should happen. This paper explores these issues in a global framework focusing on the national and global consequences of coordinated fiscal consolidation. It explores the implications this fiscal adjustment might have on country risk premia and what happens if all countries coordinate their fiscal adjustment except the United States. A coordinated fiscal consolidation in the industrial world that is not accompanied by U.S. actions is likely to lead to a substantial worsening of trade imbalances globally as the release of capital in fiscally contracting economies flows into the U.S. economy, appreciates the U.S. dollar, and worsens the current account position of the United States. The scale of this change is likely to be sufficient to substantially increase the probability of a trade war between the United States and other economies. To avoid this outcome, a coordinated fiscal adjustment is clearly in the interest of the global economy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gligor Bishev ◽  
◽  
Aleksandar Stojkov ◽  
Fatmir Besimi ◽  
◽  
...  

The pandemic recession was fundamentally different from ordinary recessions, and thus required a different policy response. We review the empirical literature on fiscal consolidation and fiscal multipliers. Then, we assess the impact of fiscal policies on the pace of recovery and public debt sustainability. A premature or a strong fiscal consolidation might result in lower rates of economic growth and elevated public debt as a share of GDP. We critically analyze different adjustment paths across Europe and offer policy-relevant recommendations. The issue is particularly relevant for countries with a strong fiscal stimulus and moderate to high levels of public debt.


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