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Labor Earnings Respond Differently to Income-Tax and to Payroll-Tax Reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Lehmann, Etienne

    (CRED, Université Panthéon Assas Paris 2)

  • Marical, François

    (INSEE)

  • Rioux, Laurence

    (CREST-INSEE)

Abstract

We estimate the responses of gross labor earnings with respect to marginal and average net-of-tax rates in France over the period 2003-2006. We exploit a series of reforms to the income-tax and the payroll-tax schedules that affect individuals who earn less than twice the minimum wage. Our estimate for the elasticity of gross labor earnings with respect to the marginal net-of-income-tax rate is around 0.2, while we find no response to the marginal net-of-payroll-tax rate. The elasticity with respect to the average net-of-tax rates is not significant for the income-tax schedule, while it is close to -1 for the payroll-tax schedule. A plausible explanation is the existence of significant labor supply responses to the income-tax schedule, combined with a short-term rigidity of the hourly taxable wage (i.e. the gross wage minus payroll taxes), casting doubts about public finance analysis that assumes perfect competition on the labor market. Finally, the effect of the net-of-income-tax rate seems to be driven by labor supply participation decisions, in particular those of females.

Suggested Citation

  • Lehmann, Etienne & Marical, François & Rioux, Laurence, 2011. "Labor Earnings Respond Differently to Income-Tax and to Payroll-Tax Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 6108, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6108
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Laun, Lisa, 2012. "The E ffect of Age-Targeted Tax Credits on Retirement Behavior," Research Papers in Economics 2012:14, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    2. Mathieu Bunel & Céline Emond & Yannick L’Horty, 2012. "Évaluer les réformes des exonérations générales de cotisations sociales," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(7), pages 57-103.
    3. Mr. Raphael A Espinoza & Mrs. Esther Perez Ruiz, 2014. "Labor Tax Cuts and Employment: A General Equilibrium Approach for France," IMF Working Papers 2014/114, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Matthias Weber & Arthur Schram, 2017. "The Non‐equivalence of Labour Market Taxes: A Real‐effort Experiment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(604), pages 2187-2215, September.
    5. Vincent Charlet & Philippe Frocrain, 2017. "Les limites des allégements de charges sur les bas salaires," Working Papers hal-01695167, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor earnings; payroll tax; income tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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