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Economic effects of VAT reforms in Germany

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  • Stefan Boeters
  • Christoph Bohringer
  • Thiess Buttner
  • Margit Kraus

Abstract

In the tax policy debate, differentiation of value-added taxes (VAT) is often justified by distributional concerns. Our quantitative analysis for Germany indicates that such concerns are misplaced. We find that the abolition of VAT differentiation has only negligible redistributive effects. Instead, reduced VAT rates are found to act as industry-specific subsidies. Whereas the overall welfare effects of pure VAT reforms are very small, a revenue-neutral introduction of a harmonized VAT combined with reductions in the marginal income tax rates or social security contributions turns out to yield substantial welfare gains for all households.

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  • Stefan Boeters & Christoph Bohringer & Thiess Buttner & Margit Kraus, 2010. "Economic effects of VAT reforms in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2165-2182.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:42:y:2010:i:17:p:2165-2182
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840701857952
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    Cited by:

    1. Petr David, 2012. "Distribution of the increased tax burden for agricultural products and food in the Czech Republic," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 58(5), pages 239-248.
    2. Stefan Boeters & Luc Savard, 2011. "The Labour Market in CGE Models," Cahiers de recherche 11-20, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    3. Bofinger, Peter & Franz, Wolfgang & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Weder di Mauro, Beatrice & Wiegard, Wolfgang, 2010. "Chancen für einen stabilen Aufschwung. Jahresgutachten 2010/11 [Chances for a stable upturn. Annual Report 2010/11]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201011.
    4. Benjamin Carton, 2012. "Tax Reform and Coordination in a Currency Union," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 132, pages 141-158.
    5. Pereira, Alfredo Marvão & Pereira, Rui Manuel, 2018. "A lower vat rate on electricity in Portugal: Towards a cleaner environment, better economic performance, and less inequality," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2014. "A General Microsimulation Model for the EU VAT with a specific Application to Germany," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 7(2), pages 40-93.
    7. Touhami Abdelkhalek & Dorothee Boccanfuso, 2021. "Impact of tax reforms in applied models: which functional forms should be chosen for the demand system ? Theory and application for Morocco," Working Papers 9, Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences.
    8. European Commission, 2011. "Tax Reforms in EU Member States 2011: tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability," Taxation Papers 28, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    9. Saveyn Bert & Van Regemorter Denise, 2007. "Environmental Policy in a Federal State - A Regional CGE Analysis of the NEC Directive in Belgium," Energy, Transport and Environment Working Papers Series ete0701, KU Leuven, Department of Economics - Research Group Energy, Transport and Environment.
    10. CPB Netherlands & CAPP, 2013. "Study on the Impacts of Fiscal Devaluation," Taxation Papers 36, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    11. Nina Hetzer & Andreas Peichl, 2010. "Tax reform despite empty public coffers?!," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 63(01), pages 28-35, January.
    12. Levin, Jörgen & Sayeed, Yeasmin, 2014. "Welfare impact of broadening VAT by exempting local food markets: The case of Bangladesh," Working Papers 2014:7, Örebro University, School of Business.
    13. Junguo Shi & Xinyi Yuan & Bert M. Sadowski & Kou Kou & Xuhua Hu & Sihan Li & Shanshan Dou, 2022. "VAT Reform, Regional Ownership Structure, and Industrial Upgrading: Evidence From Firms in Northeast China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    14. Álvarez-Martínez, María Teresa & Polo, Clemente, 2012. "A general equilibrium assessment of external and domestic shocks in Spain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2486-2493.
    15. Joaquim Sarmento, 2016. "The Determinants Of Value Added Tax Revenues In The European Union," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 21(2), pages 79-99.
    16. Thiess Büttner & Frank Hechtner & Boryana Madzharova, 2023. "Taxes and Gender Equality: The Incidence of the ‘Tampon Tax’," CESifo Working Paper Series 10580, CESifo.
    17. Christian Keuschnigg & Julian Johs & Jacob Stevens, 2021. "Consolidating the Covid Debt," CESifo Working Paper Series 9497, CESifo.
    18. Franz W. Wagner & Stefan Weber, 2016. "Wird die Umsatzsteuer überwälzt? [Do Firms Pass on VAT?]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 401-421, December.
    19. Wagner, Franz W. & Weber, Stefan & Gegenwarth, Lisa, 2014. "Wird die Umsatzsteuer überwälzt? Eine empirische Studie der Preispolitik im deutschen Hotelgewerbe," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 179, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    20. Lingli Qi & Lei Zhao & Yongqiang Zhang & Shiqi Jiang & Xinyue Lin & Yishuai Ren, 2024. "Computable general equilibrium analysis of neutral carbon trading scheme and revenue recycling impacts on income distribution in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    21. Mahfoudh Hussein Mgammal & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Talal Fawzi Alruwaili, 2023. "Value-added-tax rate increases: A comparative study using difference-in-difference with an ARIMA modeling approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    22. Ali Bayar & Barbara Bratta & Silvia Carta & Paolo Di Caro & Marco Manzo & Carlo Orecchia, 2021. "Assessing the effects of VAT policies with an integrated CGE-microsimulation approach: evidence on Italy," Working Papers wp2021-14, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    23. Zhang, Yan & Bai, Zhuoran & Findaly, Christopher, 2021. "Value-added Tax Reform and Services Exports: Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 111184, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    24. Boeters, Stefan & Savard, Luc, 2013. "The Labor Market in Computable General Equilibrium Models," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1645-1718, Elsevier.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models

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