This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Distributional analysis of prospective 2009 US individual income taxes: current law and the candidates’ tax plans

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Berliant, Marcus
Strauss, Robert P.

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to compare the distributional characteristics of two presidential candidates’ proposed reforms to the US federal individual income tax. Using an anonymous sample of tax return data from the Brookings-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center and the Center’s simulations of 2009 tax law and the two proposals, we compare the vertical and horizontal equity of the three individual income tax regimes. Surprisingly, there is very little difference among the three proposed individual income tax regimes in terms of vertical and horizontal equity. However, when the initial effective tax rate positions and economic incomes of each pair of taxpayers are compared to the new effective tax rate positions under the two proposals, we find that the Obama proposal makes the tax system more progressive than 2009 law. This change is much more pronounced than under the McCain proposal. On the other hand, when these initial positions are compared to the two proposals viz. a viz. horizontal equity, the McCain proposed tax system is more horizontally equitable than 2009 tax law, and more horizontally equitable than the Obama proposal is when compared to 2009 tax law.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11221/
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 11221.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 22 Oct 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:11221

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Schackstr. 4, D-80539 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-2219
Fax: +49-(0)89-2180-3900
Web page: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Ekkehart Schlicht).

Related research
Keywords: Tax equity; McCain tax plan; Obama tax plan;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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.:
  1. Mervyn A. King, 1983. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," NBER Working Papers 0468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. II," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 82-111, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Cowell, Frank A. & Kuga, Kiyoshi, 1981. "Additivity and the entropy concept: An axiomatic approach to inequality measurement," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 131-143, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-25, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Fields, Gary S & Fei, John C H, 1978. "On Inequality Comparisons," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(2), pages 303-16, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Louis Kaplow, 1989. "Horizontal Equity: Measures in Search of a Principle," NBER Working Papers 1679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. I," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 416-442, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-20, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Jenkins, S., 1988. "Empirical Measurement Of Horizontal Inequity," Papers 169, Australian National University - Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  10. Plotnick, Robert, 1982. "The concept and measurement of horizontal inequity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 373-391, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Stodder, James, 1991. "Equity-Efficiency Preferences in Poland and the Soviet Union: Order-Reversals under the Atkinson Index," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 287-99, September.
  12. Thon, Dominique, 1979. "On Measuring Poverty," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(4), pages 429-39, December.
  13. Shorrocks, Anthony F & Foster, James E, 1987. "Transfer Sensitive Inequality Measures," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(3), pages 485-97, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Ebert, Udo, 1987. "Size and distribution of incomes as determinants of social welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 23-33, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1980. "A Theoretical Treatment of Indices of Absolute Inequality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 21(1), pages 107-36, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Plotnick, Robert, 1981. "A Measure of Horizontal Inequity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(2), pages 283-88, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Feldstein, Martin, 1976. "On the theory of tax reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 77-104. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. King, Mervyn A, 1983. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(1), pages 99-115, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Frank A Cowell, 2006. "Inequality: Measurement," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 86, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  20. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1984. "Inequality Decomposition by Population Subgroups," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(6), pages 1369-85, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1978. "Measures of relative equality and their meaning in terms of social welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 59-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Suits, Daniel B, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 747-52, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Kakwani, Nanok C, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(345), pages 71-80, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? About five million pdf files are downloaded through RePEc every year.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-28.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.