IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v21y2014i4p796-812.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking the Pfähler–Lambert decomposition to analyse real-world personal income taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Onrubia
  • Fidel Picos-Sánchez
  • María Carmen Rodado

Abstract

We provide a generalization and adaptation of the decomposition methodology by Pfähler (Bull Econ Res 42:121–129, 1990 ) and Lambert (The distribution and redistribution of income, 1st edn, 1989 , The distribution and redistribution of income, 3rd edn, 2001 ), designed to assess the redistributive effect of personal income taxation. In particular, we generalize the methodology to several deductions, allowances, schedules or tax credits, making it suitable for real-world complex tax structures, especially dual income taxes. Additionally, we avoid the problem of sequentiality on the measurement of partial redistributive effects and also take into account the re-ranking effects of tax treatments not related to income. Finally we illustrate the utility of the methodology by carrying out an empirical analysis for the 2007 Spanish Personal Income Tax, which meant a shift from a quasi-comprehensive to a semi-dual income tax. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Onrubia & Fidel Picos-Sánchez & María Carmen Rodado, 2014. "Rethinking the Pfähler–Lambert decomposition to analyse real-world personal income taxes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 796-812, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:21:y:2014:i:4:p:796-812
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-014-9316-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10797-014-9316-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-014-9316-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Verbist, Gerlinde, 2004. "Redistributive effect and progressivity of taxes: an international comparison across the EU using EUROMOD," EUROMOD Working Papers EM5/04, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Keen, Michael & Papapanagos, Harry & Shorrocks, Anthony, 2000. "Tax Reform and Progressivity," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(460), pages 50-68, January.
    3. Adam Wagstaff & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2001. "What Makes the Personal Income Tax Progressive? A Comparative Analysis for Fifteen OECD Countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(3), pages 299-316, May.
    4. Christian Seidl & Kirill Pogorelskiy & Stefan Traub, 2013. "Tax Progression in OECD Countries," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-642-28317-8, September.
    5. Kakwani, Nanak & Lambert, Peter J., 1998. "On measuring inequity in taxation: a new approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 369-380, May.
    6. André Decoster & Isabelle Standaert & Christian Valenduc & Guy Van Camp, 2002. "What makes personal income taxes progressive? The case of Belgium," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 45(3), pages 91-112.
    7. Dardanoni, Valentino & Lambert, Peter J., 2002. "Progressivity comparisons," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 99-122, October.
    8. Kakwani, Nanok C, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(345), pages 71-80, March.
    9. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy & van der Burg, Hattem & Calonge, Samuel & Christiansen, Terkel & Citoni, Guido & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gerfin, Michael & Gross, Lorna & Hakinnen, Unto, 1999. "Redistributive effect, progressivity and differential tax treatment: Personal income taxes in twelve OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 73-98, April.
    10. Arnaldur Sölvi Kristjánsson, 2013. "Redistributive Effects in a Dual Income Tax System," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 69(2), pages 148-166, June.
    11. Jorge Onrubia & Fidel Picos & María del Carmen Rodado, 2013. "A Generalization of the Pfähler-Lambert Decomposition," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1301, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    12. Ivica Urban, 2006. "Progressivity of personal income tax in Croatia: decomposition of tax base and rate effects," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(3), pages 207-231.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julio López‐Laborda & Carmen Marín‐González & Jorge Onrubia, 2022. "The removal of tax expenditures from Spanish personal income tax: Impact on tax collection and income distribution," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 221-254, June.
    2. Takeshi Miyazaki & Yukinobu Kitamura & Taro Ohno, 2019. "Income Tax Reforms and Redistribution by Age Group: Evidence from Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 105-122, March.
    3. Paolo Caro, 2020. "Decomposing Personal Income Tax Redistribution with Application to Italy," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(1), pages 113-129, March.
    4. Thor O. Thoresen & Zhiyang Jia & Peter J. Lambert, 2016. "Is there More Redistribution Now? A Review of Methods for Evaluating Tax Redistributional Effects," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(3), pages 302-333, September.
    5. Takeshi Miyazaki, 2016. "Measurement of redistributive effect of tax rates from a longitudinal perspective: an application of the fixed taxable income approach," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(8), pages 588-591, May.
    6. Carlos Díaz-Caro & Jorge Onrubia, 2019. "How Did the ‘Dualization’ of the Spanish Income Tax Affect Horizontal Equity? Assessing its Impact Using Copula Functions," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 231(4), pages 81-124, December.
    7. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2018. "Decomposing the Redistributive Effect of Taxation to Reveal Axiom Violations," Working papers 049, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    8. Miyazaki, Takeshi & Kitamura, Yukinobu & 北村, 行伸 & Ohno, Taro, 2016. "Tax Reforms, Redistribution and Population Aging : Evidence from Japan," Discussion Paper Series 645, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Boscolo, Stefano, 2019. "The contribution of proportional taxes and tax-free cash benefits to income redistribution over the period 2005-2018: Evidence from Italy," EUROMOD Working Papers EM18/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Stefano Boscolo, 2020. "On the Horizontal Inequity Effect of the Erosion of the PIT Base: The Case of Italy," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0176, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    11. Stefano Boscolo, 2020. "On the Horizontal Inequity Effect of the Erosion of the PIT Base: The Case of Italy," Department of Economics 0176, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    12. Paolo Di Caro, 2017. "Analisi distributiva dell?IRPEF utilizzando i microdati di fonte fiscale," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 35-59.
    13. Stefano Boscolo, 2019. "Quantifying the Redistributive Effect of the Erosion of the Italian Personal Income Tax Base: A Microsimulation Exercise," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(2), pages 39-80.
    14. Stefano Boscolo, 2019. "The Contribution of Proportional Taxes and Tax-Free Cash Benefits to Income Redistribution over the Period 2005-2018: Evidence from Italy," Department of Economics 0152, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ivica Urban, 2009. "Kakwani decomposition of redistributive effect: Origins, critics and upgrades," Working Papers 148, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    2. Junyi Zhu, 2014. "Bracket Creep Revisited - with and without r > g: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 23(3), pages 106-158, November.
    3. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2018. "Decomposing the Redistributive Effect of Taxation to Reveal Axiom Violations," Working papers 049, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    4. Avram, Silvia, 2014. "The distributional effects of personal income tax expenditure," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-26, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Avram, Silvia, 2014. "The distributional effects of personal income tax expenditure," EUROMOD Working Papers EM14/14, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Miyazaki, Takeshi & Kitamura, Yukinobu & 北村, 行伸 & Ohno, Taro, 2016. "Tax Reforms, Redistribution and Population Aging : Evidence from Japan," Discussion Paper Series 645, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Stefan Bach & Giacomo Corneo & Viktor Steiner, 2008. "Effective Taxation of Top Incomes in Germany, 1992 - 2002," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 767, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Stefan Bach & Giacomo Corneo & Viktor Steiner, 2013. "Effective Taxation of Top Incomes in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 14(2), pages 115-137, May.
    9. Heiko Müller & Caren Sureth, 2009. "Income tax statistics analysis: A comparison of microsimulation versus group simulation," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 2(1), pages 32-48.
    10. Daniela Mantovani & Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2020. "A note on the maximum value of the Kakwani index," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 869-874, February.
    11. André Decoster & Isabelle Standaert & Christian Valenduc & Guy Van Camp, 2002. "What makes personal income taxes progressive? The case of Belgium," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 45(3), pages 91-112.
    12. Immervoll, Herwig & Richardson, Linda, 2011. "Redistribution Policy and Inequality Reduction in OECD Countries: What Has Changed in Two Decades?," IZA Discussion Papers 6030, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Vaqar Ahmed & Cathal O'Donoghue, 2009. "Redistributive Effect of Personal Income Taxation in Pakistan," Working Papers 0143, National University of Ireland Galway, Department of Economics, revised 2009.
    14. Guangrong Ma & Jianwei Xu & Shi Li, 2015. "The Income Redistribution Effect Of China'S Personal Income Tax: What The Micro-Data Say," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 33(3), pages 488-498, July.
    15. Silvia Avram & Horacio Levy & Holly Sutherland, 2014. "Income redistribution in the European Union," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-29, December.
    16. Peter Lambert & Thor Thoresen & Runa Nesbakken, 2010. "On the Meaning and Measurement of Redistribution in Cross-Country Comparisons," LIS Working papers 532, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    17. Mario Morger & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2018. "Income tax schedule and redistribution in direct democracies – the Swiss case," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(3), pages 413-438, September.
    18. Peter J. Lambert & Runa Nesbakken & Thor O. Thoresen, 2015. "A common base answer to "Which country is most redistributive?"," Discussion Papers 811, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    19. Herwig Immervoll & Horacio Levy & Christine Lietz & Daniela Mantovani & Cathal O’Donoghue & Holly Sutherland & Gerlinde Verbist, 2006. "Household Incomes and Redistribution in the European Union: Quantifying the Equalizing Properties of Taxes and Benefits," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Dimitri B. Papadimitriou (ed.), The Distributional Effects of Government Spending and Taxation, chapter 5, pages 135-165, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. van Doorslaer, Eddy & Wagstaff, Adam & van der Burg, Hattem & Christiansen, Terkel & Citoni, Guido & Di Biase, Rita & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gerfin, Mike & Gross, Lorna & Hakinnen, Unto, 1999. "The redistributive effect of health care finance in twelve OECD countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 291-313, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Decomposition; Personal income tax; Progressivity; Redistribution; D31; H23; H24;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:21:y:2014:i:4:p:796-812. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.