U.S. Tax Progressivity and Redistribution

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1005-1024 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Splinter
Keyword(s):  
High Income ◽  
Tax Credits ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Tax Progressivity ◽  
Congressional Budget Office ◽  
Tax Shelters ◽  
Federal Taxes

U.S. federal taxes have become more progressive since 1979, largely due to more generous tax credits for lower income individuals. Though top statutory rates fell substantially, this affected few taxpayers and was offset by decreased use of tax shelters, such that high-income average tax rates have been relatively stable. Redistribution, which accounts for both taxes and transfers, has also increased according to Congressional Budget Office data. Measures of progressivity and redistribution, however, capture different aspects of policy. Over the longer run, earlier decreases suggest a U-shaped tax progressivity curve since WWII, with the minimum occurring in 1986.

scholarly journals Subsidising urban and sub-urban transport – distributional impacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Fearnley ◽  
Jørgen Aarhaug
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Income ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Distributional Effects ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Economic Profile ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Distributional Impacts

Abstract Background and methods This paper studies distributional effects of public transport (PT) subsidies focusing on the Greater Oslo region. We identify how different PT markets enjoy different levels of subsidies. We describe how subsidies are distributed along PT modes and their respective patronage. This is done by document studies and travel surveys, supplemented by expert inquiries. Results We find that high-income groups, served by regional trains and high-speed crafts, receive large per passenger and per passenger-kilometre subsidy, while lower-income areas, typically served by local and regional buses, metros and local trains, receive lower subsidies per passenger. Peak traffic receives higher subsidies than off-peak traffic. The overall distributional profile is, however, found to be moderately progressive, in particular because of the socio-economic profile of the average PT passenger relative to the population as a whole.

scholarly journals Impact of Domestic and Transboundary Conflicts on Militarization

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
Hafiz Syed Mohsin Abbas ◽  
Xiaodong Xu ◽  
Chunxia Sun ◽  
Saif Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Ahsan Ali Raza
Keyword(s):  
High Income ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
Lower Income Countries

AbstractSecurity issues are the global concern nowadays, which triggers government spending on military equipment and supply chain. This paper analyzes the global perspective of cohesion indicators on Militarization by using 177 countries panel data from the Years 2011-2018 based on middle/lower and high-income groups. By applied OLS and Fixed Effect modelling, we explored the idea that Group Grievance and Population Growth Rate have a significant impact on Militarization in both income groups worldwide. However, middle/lower income group’s Militarization is more fragile than high-income groups due to state cohesion. It further analyses that Security Apparatus and Fractionalization Elite are significant in Middle/ lower-income countries and have an insignificant impact on Militarization in high-income countries. In the end, the study suggested that the United Nations must keenly observe the militarization trends of the less fragile states by considering global peace concerns and should play its role to resolve the bilateral conflicts in the region to maintain world peace environment.

Seeking Shelter: Empirically Modeling Tax Shelters Using Financial Statement Information

2010 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 1693-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petro Lisowsky
Keyword(s):  
Financial Statement ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Tax Havens ◽  
Tax Aggressiveness ◽  
Fin 48 ◽  
Tax Shelter ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Tax Shelters

ABSTRACT: Using confidential tax shelter and tax return data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service, this study develops and validates an expanded model for inferring the likelihood that a firm engages in a tax shelter. Results show that tax shelter likelihood is positively related to subsidiaries located in tax havens, foreign-source income, inconsistent book-tax treatment, litigation losses, use of promoters, profitability, and size, and negatively related to leverage. Supplemental tests show that total book-tax differences (BTDs) and the contingent tax liability reserve are significantly related to tax shelter usage, while discretionary permanent BTDs and long-run cash effective tax rates are not. Finally, the model is weaker, yet still significant, in the FIN 48 disclosure environment. This research provides investors and policymakers with an extended, validated measure to calculate the presence of extreme cases of corporate tax aggressiveness. Such information could also aid analysts and other tax and non-tax researchers in assessing the benefits and risks of firm behavior.

Book Reviews

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1117-1119
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Capital Gains ◽  
American Enterprise Institute ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Value Added Tax ◽  
A Value ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Business Cycle ◽  
Federal Taxes

Alan D. Viard of American Enterprise Institute reviews, “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform--Why We Need It and What It Will Take” by Bruce Bartlett. The EconLit Abstract of this book begins: “Explores the fundamentals of taxation at the simplest level and considers the question of tax reform. Discusses a brief history of federal income taxation; how a tax bill is made; the definition of income; how to understand tax rates; the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues; how taxes affect economic growth; the question of progressivity; taxes and the business cycle; how other countries tax themselves; spending through the tax code; taxes and the health system; tax preferences for housing; how federal taxes affect the states; the problem of charitable contributions; the problem of taxing capital gains; some unresolved issues in the taxation of corporations; the problem of tax administration; the history of tax reform; the pros and cons of popular tax reform proposals; the need for more revenue; the case for a value-added tax; the case against a value-added tax; what should be done about the Bush tax cuts; and whether tax reform will happen because Grover Norquist permits it. Bartlett is an economic columnist. Index.”

scholarly journals Being mindful in the tax context in Italy: Examining whether and how mindfulness relates with tax evasion intentions and support for tax progressivity

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0253627
Author(s):  
Valeria De Cristofaro ◽  
Mauro Giacomantonio ◽  
Valerio Pellegrini ◽  
Marco Salvati ◽  
Luigi Leone
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Social Dominance ◽  
Social Dominance Orientation ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Progressive Taxation ◽  
Right Wing Authoritarianism ◽  
Tax Progressivity ◽  
Motivational Model

Two studies explored whether and how mindfulness relates with citizens’ tax evasion intentions and support for progressive tax rates. Based on theoretical and empirical grounds, in Study 1 (N = 1,175) we proposed that mindfulness would be negatively related with tax evasion intentions through decreased social dominance orientation. Drawing on Duckitt’s dual-process motivational model, in Study 2 (N = 722) we proposed that mindfulness would be positively related with support for progressive taxation through the mediation of lower competitive-jungle beliefs, and then lower social dominance orientation. Instead, we did not expect to find mediation of the link between mindfulness and support for progressive taxation through dangerous-world beliefs and right-wing authoritarianism. These studies inform about the motivational pathways through which mindfulness relates with tax evasion intentions and support for progressive taxation.

scholarly journals Moving conferences online: lessons learned from an international virtual meeting

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1961) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paris V. Stefanoudis ◽  
Leann M. Biancani ◽  
Sergio Cambronero-Solano ◽  
Malcolm R. Clark ◽  
Jonathan T. Copley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Economies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Income ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Virtual Meeting ◽  
Person Experience

We consider the opportunities and challenges associated with organizing a conference online, using a case study of a medium-sized (approx. 400 participants) international conference held virtually in August 2020. In addition, we present quantifiable evidence of the participants' experience using the results from an online post-conference questionnaire. Although the virtual meeting was not able to replicate the in-person experience in some aspects (e.g. less engagement between participants) the overwhelming majority of respondents found the meeting an enjoyable experience and would join similar events again. Notably, there was a strong desire for future in-person meetings to have at least some online component. Online attendance by lower-income researchers was higher compared with a past, similar-themed in-person meeting held in a high-income nation, but comparable to one held in an upper-middle-income nation. This indicates that online conferences are not a panacea for diversity and inclusivity, and that holding in-person meetings in developing economies can be at least as effective. Given that it is now relatively easy to stream contents of meetings online using low-cost methods, there are clear benefits in making all presented content accessible online, as well as organizing online networking events for those unable to attend in person.

scholarly journals Is There a Cure for Vaccine Nationalism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (822) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Ana Santos Rutschman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Income ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Global North ◽  
Global Access ◽  
Lower Income Countries ◽  
Incremental Step ◽  
North And South ◽  
Global Population

The scramble among nations for limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccines has drawn attention to long-standing inequities in public health between the global North and South. The COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) is one of several initiatives to pool resources to acquire vaccines for lower-income countries and coordinate distribution. But months before any vaccine had been approved, high-income countries accounting for only a fraction of the global population had already placed orders for more than half of the projected early supply of vaccine doses. The new mechanisms may not be an instant cure for vaccine nationalism, but they may prove to be an incremental step toward more effective and more equitable collaboration.

scholarly journals Effective Marginal Tax Rates for Working for Families Recipients

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Spier
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Tax Credits ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Work Incentives ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Marginal Tax Rates ◽  
Hours Of Work

This paper examines how the Working for Families (WFF) package changed work incentives for WFF recipient families. While not being able to examine work incentives directly, we were able to measure changes in effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) for WFF recipients. The lower the EMTR a person faces, the more financially profitable it is for them to increase their hours of work or earnings. Conversely, a high EMTR over a range of earnings can be a disincentive for a person to work more. Beneficiary families and the vast majority of low income non­beneficiary families in receipt of WFF had lower EMTRs as a result of the policy changes. The April 2006 changes to the WFF package decreased EMTRs for middle­to­high income families already in receipt of WFF Tax Credits, but increased EMTRs for families who became newly eligible for this component as a direct result of the changes.

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