IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/annfin/v9y2013i4p573-588.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pension fund taxation and risk-taking: should we switch from the EET to the TEE regime?

Author

Listed:
  • Katarzyna Romaniuk

Abstract

Most countries tax retirement savings according to the EET (exempt contributions, exempt accumulations, taxable withdrawals) regime. Relevant literature recommends the use of TEE (taxable contributions, exempt accumulations, exempt withdrawals) or EET systems and emphasizes their near equivalence. We show that this near equivalence breaks down when considering the tax effects on risk-taking. This paper proves that the TEE regime is risk-taking neutral, while the EET regime does not, in general, respect this property. The argument of risk-taking neutrality thus calls for broadening the use of the TEE configuration. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2013. "Pension fund taxation and risk-taking: should we switch from the EET to the TEE regime?," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 573-588, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:annfin:v:9:y:2013:i:4:p:573-588
    DOI: 10.1007/s10436-012-0204-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10436-012-0204-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10436-012-0204-3?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    2. Frank Seifried, 2010. "Optimal investment with deferred capital gains taxes," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 71(1), pages 181-199, February.
    3. Agell, Jonas & Edin, Per-Anders, 1990. " Marginal Taxes and the Asset Portfolios of Swedish Households," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(1), pages 47-64.
    4. Bergstresser, Daniel & Poterba, James, 2004. "Asset allocation and asset location: household evidence from the survey of consumer finances," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1893-1915, August.
    5. Garlappi, Lorenzo & Huang, Jennifer, 2006. "Are stocks desirable in tax-deferred accounts?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(12), pages 2257-2283, December.
    6. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Use of Tax Incentives for Retirement Saving in 2006," Reports 42731, Congressional Budget Office.
    7. Diamond, Peter, 2010. "Taxes and Pensions," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 59-74.
    8. Zhou, Jie, 2009. "The asset location puzzle: Taxes matter," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 955-969, April.
    9. King, Mervyn A. & Leape, Jonathan I., 1998. "Wealth and portfolio composition: Theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 155-193, June.
    10. David Robalino, 2005. "Pensions in the Middle East and North Africa: Time for Change," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7427, December.
    11. Gene Amromin, 2003. "Household Portfolio Choices in Taxable and Tax-Deferred Accounts: Another Puzzle?," Review of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 547-582.
    12. Irwin Tepper, 1981. "Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy," NBER Working Papers 0661, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Merton, Robert C., 1971. "Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 373-413, December.
    14. Victor DeMiguel & Raman Uppal, 2005. "Portfolio Investment with the Exact Tax Basis via Nonlinear Programming," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(2), pages 277-290, February.
    15. Francisco Gomes & Alexander Michaelides & Valery Polkovnichenko, 2009. "Optimal Savings with Taxable and Tax-Deferred Accounts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(4), pages 718-735, October.
    16. Ioannis Karatzas & John P. Lehoczky & Suresh P. Sethi & Steven E. Shreve, 1986. "Explicit Solution of a General Consumption/Investment Problem," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 261-294, May.
    17. Bicksler, James L, 1985. "The Integration of Insurance and Taxes in Corporate Pension Strategy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 943-955, July.
    18. J. E. Stiglitz, 1969. "The Effects of Income, Wealth, and Capital Gains Taxation on Risk-Taking," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(2), pages 263-283.
    19. Mary Margaret Frank, 2002. "The Impact of Taxes on Corporate Defined Benefit Plan Asset Allocation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 1163-1190, September.
    20. Evsey D. Domar & Richard A. Musgrave, 1944. "Proportional Income Taxation and Risk-Taking," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 58(3), pages 388-422.
    21. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Use of Tax Incentives for Retirement Saving in 2006," Reports 42731, Congressional Budget Office.
    22. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Use of Tax Incentives for Retirement Saving in 2006," Reports 42731, Congressional Budget Office.
    23. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1996. "How Retirement Saving Programs Increase Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 91-112, Fall.
    24. Gur Huberman & Sheena Iyengar & Wei Jiang, 2007. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Determinants of Participation and Contributions Rates," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-32, February.
    25. Whitehouse, Edward, 1999. "The tax treatment of funded pensions," MPRA Paper 14173, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    26. Stanley R. Pliska, 1986. "A Stochastic Calculus Model of Continuous Trading: Optimal Portfolios," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 371-382, May.
    27. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-138, Fall.
    28. Jennifer Huang, 2008. "Taxable and Tax-Deferred Investing: A Tax-Arbitrage Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 2173-2207, September.
    29. Constantinides, George M, 1983. "Capital Market Equilibrium with Personal Tax," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(3), pages 611-636, May.
    30. Basak, Suleyman, 2002. "A comparative study of portfolio insurance," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(7-8), pages 1217-1241, July.
    31. Tepper, Irwin, 1981. "Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-13, March.
    32. Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2007. "The optimal asset allocation of the main types of pension funds: a unified framework," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 32(2), pages 113-128, December.
    33. Peter Diamond, 2009. "Taxes and Pensions," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(1), pages 2-15, July.
    34. Hubbard, Robert Glenn, 1985. "Personal Taxation, Pension Wealth, and Portfolio Composition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 53-60, February.
    35. Daniel Bergstresser & Mihir Desai & Joshua Rauh, 2006. "Earnings Manipulation, Pension Assumptions, and Managerial Investment Decisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(1), pages 157-195.
    36. Joshua D. Rauh, 2009. "Risk Shifting versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2487-2533, July.
    37. Feldstein, Martin S, 1976. "Personal Taxation and Portfolio Composition: An Econometric Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 631-650, July.
    38. Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2007. "The optimal asset allocation of the main types of pension funds: a unified framework," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 32(2), pages 113-128, December.
    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. CREMER, Helmuth & PESTIEAU, Pierre, 2016. "Taxing Pensions," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2016006, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    2. Armstrong, Angus & Davis, Philip & Ebell, Monique, 2015. "An economic analysis of pension tax proposals," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86276, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Salvador Barrios & Flavia Coda Moscarola & Francesco Figari & Luca Gandullia, 2020. "Size and distributional pattern of pension-related tax expenditures in European countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(5), pages 1287-1320, October.
    4. Jorge Miguel Bravo, 2016. "Taxation of Pensions in Portugal: Is there a Rationale for a Semi-Dual Income Tax System?," CESifo Working Paper Series 5981, CESifo.
    5. Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2017. "Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-08, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    6. Mattia Landoni & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2020. "Should the Government be Paying Investment Fees on $3 Trillion of Tax-Deferred Retirement Assets?," NBER Working Papers 26700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Chen, Damiaan H. J. & Beetsma, Roel M. W. J. & Ponds, Eduard H. M. & Romp, Ward E., 2016. "Intergenerational risk-sharing through funded pensions and public debt," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 127-159, April.
    8. Monique Ebell & Angus Armstrong & Philip Davis, 2015. "An economic analysis of the existing taxation of pensions (EET) versus an alternative regime (TEE)," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 455, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    9. Robert Holzmann, 2016. "Taxing Pensions of an Internationally Mobile Labor Force: Portability Issues and Taxation Options," CESifo Working Paper Series 5715, CESifo.

    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. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    2. Marekwica, Marcel & Schaefer, Alexander & Sebastian, Steffen, 2013. "Life cycle asset allocation in the presence of housing and tax-deferred investing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1110-1125.
    3. Zhou, Jie, 2009. "The asset location puzzle: Taxes matter," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 955-969, April.
    4. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Mathur, Ike & ap Gwilym, Rhys, 2014. "Integrating corporate ownership and pension fund structures: A general equilibrium approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 553-569.
    5. Marekwica, Marcel, 2012. "Optimal tax-timing and asset allocation when tax rebates on capital losses are limited," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2048-2063.
    6. Asea, Patrick K. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 1998. "Capital income taxation and risk-taking in a small open economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 55-90, April.
    7. Fischer, Marcel & Kraft, Holger & Munk, Claus, 2013. "Asset allocation over the life cycle: How much do taxes matter?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 2217-2240.
    8. Anson T. Y. Ho & Jie Zhou, 2016. "Housing and Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts," Staff Working Papers 16-24, Bank of Canada.
    9. Garlappi, Lorenzo & Huang, Jennifer, 2006. "Are stocks desirable in tax-deferred accounts?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(12), pages 2257-2283, December.
    10. Astrup Jensen, Bjarne & Marekwica, Marcel, 2011. "Optimal portfolio choice with wash sale constraints," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1916-1937.
    11. Zoutman, Floris T., 2014. "The Effect of Capital Taxes on Household's Portfolio Composition and Intertemporal Choice: Evidence from the Dutch 2001 Capital Income Tax Reform," Discussion Papers 2014/23, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    12. Alan, Sule & Atalay, Kadir & Crossley, Thomas F. & Jeon, Sung-Hee, 2010. "New evidence on taxes and portfolio choice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 813-823, December.
    13. Levaggi, Rosella & Menoncin, Francesco, 2016. "Optimal dynamic tax evasion: A portfolio approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 115-129.
    14. Frank Seifried, 2010. "Optimal investment with deferred capital gains taxes," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 71(1), pages 181-199, February.
    15. Yaoting Lei & Ya Li & Jing Xu, 2020. "Two Birds, One Stone: Joint Timing of Returns and Capital Gains Taxes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 823-843, February.
    16. Poterba, James M. & Samwick, Andrew A., 2003. "Taxation and household portfolio composition: US evidence from the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 5-38, January.
    17. Mihir A. Desai & Dhammika Dharmapala, 2007. "Taxes and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from JGTRRA's Treatment of International Dividends," NBER Working Papers 13281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Yothin Jinjarak & Jie Zhou, 2011. "New Evidence on Asset Location from the Survey of Consumer Finances," Public Finance Review, , vol. 39(4), pages 594-615, July.
    19. Fischer, Marcel & Jensen, Bjarne Astrup & Koch, Marlene, 2023. "Optimal retirement savings over the life cycle: A deterministic analysis in closed form," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 48-58.
    20. An, Heng & Huang, Zhaodan & Zhang, Ting, 2013. "What determines corporate pension fund risk-taking strategy?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 597-613.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax; EET regime; TEE regime; Pension funds; Defined contribution; Defined benefit; Risk-taking; C61; G11; G23; G28; H22; H39;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H39 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Other

    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:kap:annfin:v:9:y:2013:i:4:p:573-588. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.