IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0296129.html

Income composition inequality of Chinese residents and fiscal redistribution effect: An empirical analysis on individual income tax and transfer system

Author

Listed:
  • Xunhua Tu
  • Jie Yan
  • Jing Zheng

Abstract

Based on the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper decomposed Chinese residents’ income into labor income and capital income by income source, and measured the income inequality and income composition inequality of Chinese residents during 2010–2018. We take the Gini coefficient as a measure of inequality and, by decomposing it by income source, analyze the absolute and relative marginal effects of capital income and labor income on the overall income inequality. On this basis, this paper discusses the redistributive effect of financial instruments such as personal income tax and transfer payment on income inequality and income composition inequality. The results show that capital income is not only the main driving factor for the increase of overall income inequality, but also its influence on inequality is gradually increasing. The results of the redistribution effect of fiscal instruments show that although individual income tax and transfer payment both help to reduce the overall income inequality, only individual income tax can reduce the inequality of income composition, while transfer payment will exacerbate it. In the background of the rising share of capital income, it may widen the income distribution gap in the long run. Hence, future fiscal redistribution efforts should consider the income composition inequality. This includes further promotion of individual income tax reforms, optimization of the tax rate structure, enhancement of relevant tax laws governing capital income like property income, and continuous improvement in the redistributive impact of fiscal instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Xunhua Tu & Jie Yan & Jing Zheng, 2024. "Income composition inequality of Chinese residents and fiscal redistribution effect: An empirical analysis on individual income tax and transfer system," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(1), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0296129
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296129
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296129
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296129&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0296129?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ignacio Flores, 2021. "The capital share and income inequality: Increasing gaps between micro and macro-data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 685-706, December.
    2. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    3. Alejandro Lopez-Feldman, 2006. "Decomposing inequality and obtaining marginal effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 6(1), pages 106-111, March.
    4. Maura Francese & Mr. Carlos Mulas-Granados, 2015. "Functional Income Distribution and Its Role in Explaining Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2015/244, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Mitja Čok & Ivica Urban & Miroslav Verbič, 2013. "Income Redistribution through Taxes and Social Benefits: The Case of Slovenia and Croatia," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 60(5), pages 667-686.
    6. Philipp Heimberger, 2020. "Does economic globalisation affect income inequality? A meta‐analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2960-2982, November.
    7. Burdín, Gabriel & De Rosa, Mauricio & Vigorito, Andrea & Vilá, Joan, 2022. "Falling inequality and the growing capital income share: Reconciling divergent trends in survey and tax data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Bilbiie, Florin O. & Känzig, Diego R. & Surico, Paolo, 2022. "Capital and income inequality: An aggregate-demand complementarity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 154-169.
    9. Ivica Urban, 2014. "Contributions of taxes and benefits to vertical and horizontal effects," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(3), pages 619-645, March.
    10. Mitja ÄŒok & Ivica Urban & Miroslav VerbiÄ, 2013. "Income Redistribution through Taxes and Social Benefits: The Case of Slovenia and Croatia," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 60(5), pages 667-686, September.
    11. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2021. "Labor shares and inequality: insights from Italian economic history, 1895–19701 [‘A paradise for profiteers’? The importance and treatment of profits during the first world war]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(2), pages 355-378.
    12. Bengtsson, Erik & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Capital Shares and Income Inequality: Evidence from the Long Run," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 712-743, September.
    13. Fräßdorf, Anna & Grabka, Markus M. & Schwarze, Johannes, 2011. "The Impact of Household Capital Income on Income Inequality - A Factor Decomposition Analysis for the UK, Germany and the USA," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 35-56.
    14. Saikat Sarkar & Matti Tuomala, 2021. "Asset bubbles in explaining top income shares," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 707-726, December.
    15. Ni, Niannian & Liu, Yulin, 2019. "Financial liberalization and income inequality: A meta-analysis based on cross-country studies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Michael Chletsos & Andreas Sintos, 2023. "Financial development and income inequality: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1090-1119, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Facundo Alvaredo & Mauricio de Rosa & Ignacio Flores & Marc Morgan, 2022. "The Inequality (or the Growth) we Measure: Data Gaps and the Distribution of Incomes," Working Papers halshs-03693223, HAL.
    2. Ignacio Flores, 2021. "The capital share and income inequality: Increasing gaps between micro and macro-data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 685-706, December.
    3. Gonzalez Alvaredo, Facundo & De Rosa, Mauricio & Flores, Ignacio & Morgan, Marc, 2025. "The inequality (or the growth) we measure: data gaps and the distribution of incomes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128509, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Zuobao Wang & Tianrun Lin & Yao Chen & Shurui Zhang, 2025. "Is it Actually Working Well? A Comparative Study of the Redistributive Effectiveness of Public Social Benefits in 33 Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 235-267, August.
    5. Bartels, Charlotte, 2019. "Top Incomes in Germany, 1871–2014," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(3), pages 669-707, September.
    6. Laura Panza & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2019. "Always Egalitarian? Australian Earnings Inequality c1870," CEH Discussion Papers 01, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. Tine Stanovnik & Miroslav Verbic, 2014. "Personal income tax reforms and tax progressivity in Slovenia, 1991-2012," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 38(4), pages 441-463.
    8. Atanu Ghoshray & Issam Malki & Javier Ordóñez, 2022. "On the long-run dynamics of income and wealth inequality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 375-408, February.
    9. Laura Panza & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2021. "Always egalitarian? Australian earnings inequality 1870–1910," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 228-246, July.
    10. Mauricio De Rosa & Joan Vilá, 2022. "Beyond tax-survey combination: inequality and the blurry household-firm border," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-10, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    11. Pawel Bukowski & Filip Novokmet, 2019. "Between Communism and Capitalism: Long-Term Inequality in Poland, 1892- 2015," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876995, HAL.
    12. Ranaldi, Marco, 2024. "Compositional Inequality: Measurement, Stylized Facts, and Normative Aspects," SocArXiv 75ghp, Center for Open Science.
    13. Mauricio De Rosa & Joan Vilá, 2023. "Beyond tax-survey combination: inequality and the blurry household-firm border," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 537-572, September.
    14. Mauricio De Rosa, 2022. "Accumulation, inheritance and wealth distribution: first estimates of the untold half," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-07, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    15. Bom, Pedro R.D. & Erauskin, Iñaki, 2022. "Productive government investment and the labor share," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 347-363.
    16. repec:osf:socarx:akq89_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bruno Bises & Francesco Bloise & Antonio Scialà, 2024. "Labor share as an "automatic stabilizer" of income inequality," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(2), pages 511-532, April.
    18. Coveri, Andrea & Pianta, Mario, 2022. "Drivers of inequality: wages vs. profits in European industries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 230-242.
    19. Brzezinski, Michal & Myck, Michał & Najsztub, Mateusz, 2022. "Sharing the gains of transition: Evaluating changes in income inequality and redistribution in Poland using combined survey and tax return data," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    20. Caiani, Alessandro & Russo, Alberto & Gallegati, Mauro, 2016. "Does Inequality Hamper Innovation and Growth?," MPRA Paper 71864, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Cícero, Vinicius Curti & Lima, Gilberto Tadeu, 2023. "Functional distribution of income as a determinant of importing behavior: An empirical analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 393-405.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0296129. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.