Interval and Global Progessivity. The Case of the Visegrad Group

Background. The countries of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) apply different personal income tax systems that reflect their different economic and social policies. Taking into account the fact that often every year changes are made in the tax legislation, there are changes in tax systems. Aim. The article is focused on measuring the progressivity of the tax on dependent activity in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Methods. Interval and global progression methods were used. Specifically, these are the progressivity of the average rate, the progressivity of the tax liability, the Lorenz curve, the Gini coefficient and the Musgrave and Thin index. Results. The resulting values are calculated according to model examples based on the tax laws of individual countries. Based on the results of interval progressivity, similar but also different features can be observed in individual countries. In the case of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, it can be observed that the tax on income from dependent activity is progressive. In the case of taxpayers with low incomes and in the case where a child lives with the taxpayer, the tax in some cases even has a regressive effect. On the other hand, in Hungary, a proportional tax applies throughout. Based on indicators of global progressivity, they show that the tax on income from dependent activities is the most progressive in Poland.