Eurostat data shows that children and elderly are especially at risk of being in poverty. In 2004 the average rates of poverty risk in the European Union for these groups were about 19%. In Poland, the rate was 29% for children and only 7% for the elderly. We examine the role of the tax-benefit system in explaining this situation and analyse how much child poverty figures could change under several reform scenarios. In 2005, families with children were mainly supported by a means-tested family allowance and some supplements. This was extended in 2007 with the introduction of a non-refundable child tax credit. Making use of the European tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD, this paper assesses the consequences of the recent reform in Poland. We examine the outcome in comparison to child policies in three other European systems and show that poverty reduction would have been more pronounced, if child policies were changed along the lines of the system in France or the United Kingdom. The Austrian system - relying primarily on universal benefits - would bring about a similar reduction in the poverty rate but with much greater reduction in the poverty gap. The paper presents detailed distributional analysis under the different systems assuming the cost of 'importing' each of them to be the same as that of introducing the 2007 reform.
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Paper provided by EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research in its series EUROMOD Working Papers with number
EM3/08.
Length: Date of creation: 01 Jun 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:ese:emodwp:em3/08
Note: child poverty, tax and benefit reforms, transition Contact details of provider: Postal: RAB Butler Building, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, ESSEX C04 3SQ Phone: +44 (0)1206 872957 Fax: +44 (0)1206 873151 Email: Web page: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/euromod/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Matsaganis M & O'donoghue C & Levy H & Coromaldi M & Mercader-prats M & Farinha rodrigues C & Toso S & Tsakloglou P, 2004.
"Child Poverty And Family Transfers In Southern Europe,"
EUROMOD Working Papers
EM2/04, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
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Other versions:
Matsaganis, Manos & Levy, Horacio & Mercader-Prats, Magda & Toso, Stefano & O’Donoghue, Cathal & Coromaldi, Manuela & Rodrigues, Carlos Farinha & Tsakloglou, Panos, 2005.
"Child Poverty and Family Transfers in Southern Europe,"
IZA Discussion Papers
1509, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
[Downloadable!]