IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/buecrs/v57y2005i1p13-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taxation, Reranking and Equivalence Scales

Author

Listed:
  • Justin Van De Ven
  • John Creedy

Abstract

It is conjectured that if the government has a distributional objective and formulates tax policy with a view to equitable treatment of households, then adopting the scale that is implicit in transfer policy should identify only reranking that has no equity foundation. This motivates the question: can the reranking‐minimizing scales be identified as those implicit in the transfer system? The analysis presented in this study suggests that the equivalence scale which minimizes reranking, while not necessarily equal to the tax implicit equivalence scale, is nevertheless in its vicinity.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin Van De Ven & John Creedy, 2005. "Taxation, Reranking and Equivalence Scales," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 13-36, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:57:y:2005:i:1:p:13-36
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8586.2005.00213.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8586.2005.00213.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8586.2005.00213.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banks, James & Johnson, Paul, 1994. "Equivalence Scale Relativities Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 883-890, July.
    2. James Banks & Mike Brewer, 2002. "Understanding the relative generosity of government financial support for families with children," IFS Working Papers W02/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Lerman, Robert I. & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1995. "Changing Ranks and the Inequality Impacts of Taxes and Transfers," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 48(1), pages 45-59, March.
    4. Jenkins, Stephen P., 1988. "Empirical measurement of horizontal inequity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 305-329, December.
    5. Nigel Pain & Dr Martin Weale & Dr Garry Young, 1997. "Britain's fiscal problems," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 113, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    6. Robert Plotnick, 1985. "A Comparison of Measures of Horizontal Inequity," NBER Chapters, in: Horizontal Equity, Uncertainty, and Economic Well-Being, pages 239-268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Christiansen, Vidar & Jansen, Eilev S., 1978. "Implicit social preferences in the Norwegian system of indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 217-245, October.
    8. John Muellbauer & Justin van de Ven, 2004. "Estimating Equivalence Scales for Tax and Benefits Systems," Economics Papers 2004-W06, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    9. Fei, John C H, 1981. "Equity Oriented Fiscal Programs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 869-881, June.
    10. John Creedy & Justin Van De Ven, 2001. "Decomposing Redistributive Effects of Taxes and Transfers in Australia: Annual and Lifetime Measures," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 185-198, June.
    11. King, Mervyn A, 1983. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(1), pages 99-115, January.
    12. Brigitte Buhmann & Lee Rainwater & Guenther Schmaus & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well‐Being, Inequality, And Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates Across Ten Countries Using The Luxembourg Income Study (Lis) Database," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 34(2), pages 115-142, June.
    13. Feldstein, Martin, 1976. "On the theory of tax reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 77-104.
    14. Jenkins, Stephen P & Cowell, Frank A, 1994. "Parametric Equivalence Scales and Scale Relativities," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 891-900, July.
    15. Creedy, John & van de Ven, Justin, 2001. "Decomposing Redistributive Effects of Taxes and Transfers in Australia: Annual and Lifetime Measures," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 185-198, June.
    16. Timothy Smeeding & Gunther Schmaus & Brigitte Buhmann & Lee Rainwater, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well-Being, Inequality and Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates Across Ten Countries Using the LIS Database," LIS Working papers 17, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Koichi Mera, 1969. "Experimental Determination of Relative Marginal Utilities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(3), pages 464-477.
    18. Aronson, J Richard & Johnson, Paul & Lambert, Peter J, 1994. "Redistributive Effects and Unequal Income Tax Treatment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(423), pages 262-270, March.
    19. Mervyn A. King, 1980. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," NBER Working Papers 0468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Frank A. Cowell, 1985. "Measures of Distributional Change: An Axiomatic Approach," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(1), pages 135-151.
    21. Jenkins, Stephen, 1988. "Reranking and the Analysis of Income Redistribution," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 35(1), pages 65-76, February.
    22. Cutler, David M & Katz, Lawrence F, 1992. "Rising Inequality? Changes in the Distribution of Income and Consumption in the 1980's," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 546-551, May.
    23. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Differences in Needs and Assessment of Income Distributions," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 77-124, April.
    24. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1983. "On an Extension of the Gini Inequality Index," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(3), pages 617-628, October.
    25. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Equivalence Scale Relativities and the Extent of Inequality and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(414), pages 1067-1082, September.
    26. Musgrave, Richard A., 1990. "Horizontal Equity, Once More," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 43(2), pages 113-22, June.
    27. Lerman, Robert I. & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1995. "Changing Ranks and the Inequality Impacts of Taxes and Transfers," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 48(1), pages 45-59, March.
    28. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    29. Buhmann, Brigitte, et al, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well-Being, Inequality, and Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates across Ten Countries Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 34(2), pages 115-142, June.
    30. Peter Lambert & Xavier Ramos, 1997. "Horizontal Inequity and Vertical Redistribution," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(1), pages 25-37, January.
    31. Plotnick, Robert, 1981. "A Measure of Horizontal Inequity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(2), pages 283-288, May.
    32. Musgrave, Richard A., 1990. "Horizontal Equity, Once More," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 43(2), pages 113-122, June.
    33. Nolan, Brian, 1987. "Direct Taxation, Transfers and Reranking: Some Empirical Results for the UK," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 49(3), pages 273-290, August.
    34. Robert J. Brent, 1984. "Use of Distributional Weights in Cost-Benefit Analysis: a Survey of Schools," Public Finance Review, , vol. 12(2), pages 213-230, April.
    35. Seneca, Joseph J & Taussig, Michael K, 1971. "Family Equivalence Scales and Personal Income Tax Exemptions for Children," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 53(3), pages 253-262, August.
    36. Gordon, David M, 1972. "Taxation of the Poor and the Normative Theory of Tax Incidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 319-328, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2013. "On measuring violations of the progressive principle in income tax systems," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 239-245, August.
    2. Creedy, John & Li, Shuyun May & Moslehi, Solmaz, 2010. "Inequality Aversion And The Optimal Composition Of Government Expenditure," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(S2), pages 290-306, November.
    3. John Creedy & Ross Guest, 2008. "Discounting and the Time Preference Rate," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(264), pages 109-127, March.
    4. Justin Ven & Nicolas Hérault & Francisco Azpitarte, 2017. "Identifying tax implicit equivalence scales," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(3), pages 257-275, September.
    5. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    6. Creedy, John, 2013. "Alternative Distributions for Inequality and Poverty Comparisons," Working Paper Series 18784, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
    7. John Creedy, 2011. "Tax and Transfer Tensions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14603.
    8. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2010. "The 2007 Personal Income Tax Reform in Italy: Effects on Potential Equity, Horizontal Inequity and Re-ranking," Working papers 14, Former Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato", University of Torino.
    9. John Creedy, 2006. "Evaluating Policy: Welfare Weights And Value Judgements," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 971, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Emanuela Raffinetti & Elena Siletti & Achille Vernizzi, 2017. "Analyzing the Effects of Negative and Non-negative Values on Income Inequality: Evidence from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth of the Bank of Italy (2012)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 185-207, August.
    11. Emanuela Raffinetti & Elena Siletti & Achille Vernizzi, 2015. "On the Gini coefficient normalization when attributes with negative values are considered," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 24(3), pages 507-521, September.
    12. Bruce Headey, 2008. "Poverty Is Low Consumption and Low Wealth, Not Just Low Income," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 89(1), pages 23-39, October.
    13. John Creedy & Jamas Enright & Norman Gemmell & Nick McNabb, 2008. "Equity and Efficiency Measures of Tax-Transfer Systems: Some Evidence for New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 08/04, New Zealand Treasury.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bibi, Sami & Duclos, Jean-Yves, 2007. "Equity and policy effectiveness with imperfect targeting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 109-140, May.
    2. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Jalbert, Vincent & Araar, Abdelkrim, 2003. "Classical Horizontal Inequity and Reranking: an Integrating Approach," Cahiers de recherche 0306, CIRPEE.
    3. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Jalbert, Vincent & Araar, Abdelkrim, 2000. "Classical Horizontal Inequity and Reranking: an Integrated Approach," Cahiers de recherche 0002, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    4. J. Richard Aronson & Peter J. Lambert & Donald R. Trippeer, 1999. "Estimates of the Changing Equity Characteristics of the U.S. Income Tax with International Conjectures," Public Finance Review, , vol. 27(2), pages 138-159, March.
    5. Ivica Urban, 2009. "Kakwani decomposition of redistributive effect: Origins, critics and upgrades," Working Papers 148, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    6. John Creedy & Catherine Sleeman, 2004. "Adult Equivalence Scales, Inequality and Poverty in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/21, New Zealand Treasury.
    7. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    8. Erlend Bø & Peter Lambert & Thor Thoresen, 2012. "Horizontal inequity under a dual income tax system: principles and measurement," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(5), pages 625-640, October.
    9. Ruiz-Castillo, Javier & Vargas, Carmen, 1996. "A social welfare model for the evaluation of the spanish income tax system," UC3M Working papers. Economics 4100, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    10. Justin Ven & Nicolas Hérault & Francisco Azpitarte, 2017. "Identifying tax implicit equivalence scales," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(3), pages 257-275, September.
    11. Peter J. Lambert, 2004. "Income Taxation and Equity," Working Papers 2004/4, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    12. Sunil Kumar & Renuka Mahadevan, 2008. "Construction of An Adult Equivalence Index to Measure Intra-household Inequality and Poverty: Case Study," Discussion Papers Series 363, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    13. DUCLOS, Jean-Yves, 1995. "Relative Performance, Relative Deprivation and Generalised Gini Indices of Inequality and Horizontal Inequity," Cahiers de recherche 9514, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    14. Juan Gabriel Rodríguez & Rafael Salas & Irene Perrote, 2005. "Partial Horizontal Inequity Orderings: A Non‐parametric Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(3), pages 347-368, June.
    15. Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2004. "Migration, poverty, and housing in Honduras," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 31(1 Year 20), pages 5-20, June.
    16. Berliant, Marcus & Strauss, Robert P., 2008. "Distributional analysis of prospective 2009 US individual income taxes: current law and the candidates’ tax plans," MPRA Paper 11221, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Ruiz-Castillo, Javier, 1997. "Income mobility, permutations, and rerankings," UC3M Working papers. Economics 6070, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    18. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    19. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Progressivity, horizontal equity and reranking in health care finance: a decomposition analysis for the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 499-516, October.
    20. Dardanoni, Valentino & Lambert, Peter J., 2002. "Progressivity comparisons," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 99-122, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:57:y:2005:i:1:p:13-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0307-3378 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.