scholarly journals Personal income tax reform in Latvia: assessment of effect

Author(s):  
Larisa Bule ◽  
Līga Leitāne ◽  
Kristīne Rozīte

Personal income tax (PIT) policy in Latvia has been changed significantly in 2018 with the aim to reduce the tax burden and increase the income of working population by amending progressive tax rates and increasing the non-taxable minimum and minimum wage. Purpose − the aim of this study is to estimate the impact of PIT reform by assessing the effect of implementation of non-taxable minimum, deductions and substantiated spending on the dynamics of income and tax administration efficiency. Research methodology − PIT theoretic and normative concepts have been analyzed; unpublished data on actual wages in 2015−2018 provided by Latvian State Revenue Service and State Social Insurance Agency have been estimated. Findings − the main conclusion of this study is that the aim of the reform has not been achieved: income inequality hasn’t been reduced, an increase of income has been irrelevant, the gains from the reform have become unobtainable for the most unprotected groups because of the insufficient level of income. The implementation of the differentiated non-taxable minimum has generated PIT debts and higher administrative burden. Practical implications − the study may be implemented in case of progressive PIT for the reassessment of the tax framework and its future development. Originality/Value − this study is original, the actual effect of PIT reform in Latvia previously hasn’t been analyzed.

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Yarema

The article analyses the current mechanism of personal income taxation in Ukraine, examining the impact of its individual elements on total revenues from personal income tax. The analysis of revenue contributions from personal income taxation to the consolidated state budget and local budgets indicates that the personal income tax remains the most important sources of revenue. In the structure of personal income tax revenues, wages are the main source of taxable income. The author analyses the mechanism of taxation for natural persons (businessmen) and tax receipts flowing to local budgets from incomes from business activity and highlights its shortcomings. In this context, he proposes introducing progressive tax rates, which will make it possible to shift the tax burden from individuals with low incomes to those who earn higher incomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Jouste ◽  
Tina Kaidu ◽  
Joseph Okello Ayo ◽  
Jukka Pirttilä ◽  
Pia Rattenhuber

We evaluate a major personal income tax reform in Uganda that came into effect in 2012–13. The reform increased the tax-free lower threshold, increased tax rates for higher incomes, and introduced an additional highest tax band. Using the universe of pay-as-you-earn administrative data submitted by employers in the formal sector, we analyse the impact on taxable income of the introduction of the additional top tax band. Our results indicate that the elasticity of taxable income in Uganda is larger than in previous results from developed countries. Overall, the additional revenue generated from the introduction of the additional top tax band by far offset the revenues lost from the decreased revenues from employees with medium to lower taxable incomes, despite the large elasticity of taxable income at the top. We contribute to the very scarce literature on the effects of personal income tax reform on employees’ income in a low-income country in Africa.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-104
Author(s):  
Kathleen Grace

Purpose Small businesses file taxes in accordance with the personal income tax code because they are considered flow-through entities. Thus, personal income tax reforms directly affect the incentives small business owners face regarding employment and operations. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the changes in personal income tax rates during the 1993 and 2001-2003 reforms and micro-level data to estimate the effect of statutory tax rate changes on small business employment decisions. Findings The authors add two contributions to the current literature: first, the author allow for intertemporal tax planning and second, the author allow the firm’s decision to employ labor to be correlated with the firm’s wage bill decision. Estimation of a Heckman selection model for wage bills shows that the probability that a business will employ labor is 1.18 percent higher when current tax rates increase by one percentage point and 0.70 percent lower when future rates are expected to increase by one percentage point. Among firms that already employ labor, the median wage bill elasticity with respect to current tax rates is −0.64. These estimates are larger than those reported in previous research because my model includes future taxes and allows for correlation between the firm’s employment and wage bill decisions. Omitting the intertemporal tax responses biases the estimates of previous researchers upwards, whereas assuming the two firm decisions are independent biases estimates towards zero. Originality/value This paper has been cited in publications published in Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Krajewski ◽  
Katarzyna Piłat

The aim of the article is to examine the impact of progressive personal income tax rates and the effectiveness of this tax as an automatic economic stabilizer. The assessment of automatic stabilizers is based on the estimates of tax cyclical components. The study shows that the output elasticity of PIT is higher than one, which means that the analysed tax acts relatively efficiently as an automatic stabilizer. However, it was also observed that the tax progressivity is not the main reason of the effectiveness of a progressive PIT as an automatic stabilizer. The study shows that changes in progressive rates of PIT, contrary to widespread opinions, have little effect on the effectiveness of passive fiscal policy. Personal income tax acts as automatic stabilizer mostly due not to the progressive tax rates, but because of the sensitivity of employment to GDP fluctuations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-553
Author(s):  
Éva Bonifert Szabóné

Due to the numerous factors that can influence the impact of the tax system and redistribution, there is no single correct answer to the question of which composition of economic policy instruments needs to be applied to achieve a desired redistributive effect. The general aim of the study is to investigate in relation to the quantifiable parameters of income tax systems, whether the consideration of the aspects of fairness and justice does have an excessively negative effect on the simplicity of tax systems. The study investigates the possibilities of simplifying the personal income tax system’s composition in some Central and Eastern European countries, while tax burden curves of the system remain as constant as possible. To this end, the study sets up a theoretical, simplified tax model, the parameters of which are determined by a computer program, in order to generate tax burden curves corresponding most closely to the curves of the real tax system. Based on the analysis, it can be established that the theoretical system – in some cases with restrictions – provides a good approximation to the tax burden curves of the investigated countries. The chosen simple model has a good degree of approximation to a real system that does not have significant breakpoints in its tax burden curves, nor does it use a taxation method that fundamentally modifies the system (e.g., splitting). Practical examples help to understand that a complex personal income tax system in a given country is not necessarily the only possible solution to achieve a given tax burden curve, the function may be reproduced with a good approximation constructed from simpler basic elements.


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