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The Effects of Tax-Based Saving Incentives on Government Revenue and National Saving

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  • Martin Feldstein

Abstract

This paper shows that previous analyses of IRA-type plans that seek to encourage household saving have miscalculated their effect on tax revenue and therefore on national saving by ignoring their favorable impact on corporate tax payments. Recognizing the important effects of IRA plans on corporate tax revenue changes previous conclusions about the revenue loss in a fundamental way. The revenue loss associated with IRAs either is much smaller than has generally been estimated or is actually a revenue gain.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Feldstein, 1995. "The Effects of Tax-Based Saving Incentives on Government Revenue and National Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 475-494.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:110:y:1995:i:2:p:475-494.
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    1. Daniel Feenberg & Jonathan Skinner, 1989. "Sources of IRA Saving," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 3, pages 25-46, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gale, William G & Scholz, John Karl, 1994. "IRAs and Household Saving," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1233-1260, December.
    2. Frank Caliendo & W. Cris Lewis, 2004. "The Effect of the Current Ira Program on Federal Debt," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 331-351, May.
    3. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-138, Fall.
    4. Bouyon, Sylvain, 2014. "A Review of Policy Options for Monitoring Household Saving," ECRI Papers 9754, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    5. Eric M. Engen & William G. Gale & John Karl Scholz, 1996. "The Effects of Tax-Based Saving Incentives On Saving and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 5759, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. R. Glenn Hubbard & Jonathan S. Skinner, 1996. "Assessing the Effectiveness of Saving Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 73-90, Fall.
    7. Feldstein, Martin, 1997. "How Big Should Government Be?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 50(2), pages 197-213, June.
    8. Mr. Philip R. Gerson, 1998. "The Impact of Fiscal Policy Variables on Output Growth," IMF Working Papers 1998/001, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Feldstein, Martin, 1997. "How Big Should Government Be?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 50(2), pages 197-213, June.
    10. Giuseppe Ruggieri & Maxime Fougère, 1997. "The effect of tax-based savings incentives on government revenue," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 143-159, May.
    11. Gary V. Engelhardt, 2000. "Have 401(k)s Raised Household Saving? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 33, McMaster University.
    12. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "Fiscal policies, capital formation, and capitalism," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 399-420, April.
    13. Emin Gahramanov & Xueli Tang, 2013. "Should We Refinance Unfunded Social Security?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(319), pages 532-565, July.
    14. Olga S. Belomyttseva & Larisa S. Grinkevich & Anastasiia M. Grinkevich & Samo Bobek & Polona Tominc, 2018. "Tax incentives for bond-oriented individual investors: evidence from the Russian Federation," Journal of Tax Reform, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 4(2), pages 108-124.
    15. Martin Feldstein, 1992. "Commentary : investment policies to promote growth," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 185-192.

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