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Income tax deduction of commuting expenses in an urban CGE study: The case of German cities

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  • Hirte, Georg
  • Tscharaktschiew, Stefan

Abstract

Granting the right to deduct commuting expenses from the income tax base has regularly been under debate during the last decades. This paper provides for the first time an insight into the magnitude of the effects of this kind of commuting subsidy under different funding schemes. The economic and spatial effects are calculated by applying a spatial CGE approach calibrated to a German urban area. The findings suggest that effects on urban sprawl characterized by suburbanization, spatial expansion of the city, and increasing commuting distance are surprisingly small. Concerning welfare, we found that the current level of tax deductions in Germany is too small in the case of income tax funding. If one considers further changes in the tax system welfare can be considerably enhanced by raising tax deductions above that level. In particular this refers to a tax structure where energy taxes are used to make traveling by car less attractive and tax deductions are used to lower the negative impact of taxes on labor supply.

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  • Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2013. "Income tax deduction of commuting expenses in an urban CGE study: The case of German cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 11-27.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:28:y:2013:i:c:p:11-27
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.05.003
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    1. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    2. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Reimann, Felix, 2021. "On employer-paid parking and parking (cash-out) policy: A formal synthesis of different perspectives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 499-516.
    3. J. Malte Zoubek, 2018. "Spatial Productivity Differences and the Optimal Tax Treatment of Commuting Expenses," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 187-18, Universität Siegen, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik und Wirtschaftsrecht.
    4. Georg Hirte & Ulrike Illmann, 2019. "Household decision making on commuting and the commuting paradox," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 63-101, February.
    5. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2020. "The role of labor-supply margins in shaping optimal transport taxes," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    6. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2014. "Shedding light on the appropriateness of the (high) gasoline tax level in Germany," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-210.
    7. Georg Hirte & Stefan Tscharaktschiew, 2015. "Why not to choose the most convenient labor supply model? The impact of labor supply modeling on policy evaluation," ERSA conference papers ersa15p303, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Fetene, Gebeyehu M. & Hirte, Georg & Kaplan, Sigal & Prato, Carlo G. & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2016. "The economics of workplace charging," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 93-118.
    9. Ioannis Tikoudis & Walid Oueslati, 2023. "The future of transport-related emissions in dense urban areas: an analysis of various policy scenarios with MOLES," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(2), pages 205-268, April.
    10. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2016. "The private (unnoticed) welfare cost of highway speeding behavior from time saving misperceptions," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 7, pages 24-37.
    11. Shin, Eun Jin, 2020. "Commuter benefits programs: Impacts on mode choice, VMT, and spillover effects," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 11-22.
    12. Nitzsche, Eric & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2013. "Efficiency of speed limits in cities: A spatial computable general equilibrium assessment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 23-48.
    13. Oliver Lah, 2016. "Circular Economy Policies and Strategies of Germany," Chapters, in: Venkatachalam Anbumozhi & Jootae Kim (ed.), Towards a Circular Economy: Corporate Management and Policy Pathways, chapter 5, pages 67-82, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    14. Chaloupka, Christine & Kölbl, Robert & Loibl, Wolfgang & Molitor, Romain & Nentwich, Michael & Peer, Stefanie & Risser, Ralf & Sammer, Gerd & Schützhofer, Bettina & Seibt, Claus, 2015. "Nachhaltige Mobilität aus sozioökonomischer Perspektive – Diskussionspapier der Arbeitsgruppe "Sozioökonomische Aspekte" der ÖAW-Kommission "Nachhaltige Mobilität" (ITA-manu," ITA manu:scripts 15_02, Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA).
    15. Baumgart, Eike & Blaufus, Kay & Hechtner, Frank, 2023. "The tax treatment of commuting expenses and job-related mobility," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 280, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.

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