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Measuring Effective Tax Rates on Human Capital: Methodology and an Application to Canada

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Kirk A. Collins
James Davies ()

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Abstract

This paper examines the impacts of a wide range of tax provisions on the incentive to invest in human capital, and shows how these effects can be quantified using effective tax rates, or ETRs. For individuals with median earnings, ETRs on the human capital formed in first-degree university study are sizeable, although not as large as those estimated by previous authors for physical capital in Canada. When the expenditure side and its direct subsidies are also taken into account, the net effective tax rate on human capital becomes negative. The taxation of human capital is far from uniform. ETRs vary by income level, gender, part-time vs. full-time study, whether students have loans, number of dependants, and use of RESPs. The most significant differences are those related to income level. Workers at higher percentile levels of the earnings distribution throughout life may face ETRs three times as high as those for low-income workers -- a result of our progressive income tax system.

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Paper provided by CESifo GmbH in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number CESifo Working Paper No. 965.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_965

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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    Other versions:
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  15. Michael J. Boskin, 1975. "Notes on the Tax Treatment of Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 0116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. James B. Davies & Jie Zhang & Jinli Zeng, 2000. "Optimal Tax Mix in a Two-Sector Growth Model with Transitional Dynamics," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 200017, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Stephen Cameron & Christopher Taber, 2000. "Borrowing Constraints and the Returns to Schooling," NBER Working Papers 7761, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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