IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwwpp/dp1083.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Distributional and Welfare Effects of Germany's Year 2000 Tax Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Ochmann

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates distributional and welfare effects of Germany's year 2000 income tax reform. The reform is simulated in an ex-ante behavioral microsimulation approach. Dead weight loss of changes in capital income taxation is estimated in a structural model for household savings and asset demand applied to German survey data. Significant reductions in tax rates result in income gains for most of the households. Gains are found greater for households in higher tax brackets, whereby income inequality increases, slightly greater in East- than in West-Germany. Moreover, households increase savings and alter the structure of asset demand as a result of shifts in relative asset prices. As a consequence, utility losses reduce welfare effects for almost all households.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Ochmann, 2010. "Distributional and Welfare Effects of Germany's Year 2000 Tax Reform," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1083, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.364206.de/dp1083.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hausman, Jerry A & Poterba, James M, 1987. "Household Behavior and the Tax Reform Act of 1986," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 101-119, Summer.
    2. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    3. François Bourguignon & Amedeo Spadaro, 2006. "Microsimulation as a tool for evaluating redistribution policies," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 4(1), pages 77-106, April.
    4. Krimmer, Pascal & Raffelhüschen, Bernd, 2003. "Intergenerative Umverteilung und Wachstumsimpulse der Steuerreformen 1999 bis 2005: Die Perspektive der Generationenbilanz," Discussion Papers 105, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institut für Finanzwissenschaft.
    5. Schröder, Carsten & Bönke, Timm, 2012. "Country inequality rankings and conversion schemes," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-43.
    6. Martin Beznoska & Richard Ochmann, 2010. "Household Savings Decision and Income Uncertainty," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1046, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    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. Louis-David L. Dicks-Mireaux & Mervyn A. King, 1983. "Portfolio Composition and Pension Wealth: An Econometric Study," NBER Chapters, in: Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System, pages 399-440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Stefan Homburg, 2001. "German Tax Reform 2000. Description and Appraisal," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 57(4), pages 504-513, August.
    10. Stefan Hochguertel & Rob Alessie & Arthur Van Soest, 1997. "Saving Accounts versus Stocks and Bonds in Household Portfolio Allocation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(1), pages 81-97, March.
    11. Peichl, Andreas & Ochmann, Richard, 2006. "Measuring distributional effects of fiscal reforms," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 06-9, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    12. King, Mervyn A. & Leape, Jonathan I., 1998. "Wealth and portfolio composition: Theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 155-193, June.
    13. Alan, Sule & Atalay, Kadir & Crossley, Thomas F. & Jeon, Sung-Hee, 2010. "New evidence on taxes and portfolio choice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 813-823, December.
    14. Bernheim, B. Douglas, 2002. "Taxation and saving," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 18, pages 1173-1249, Elsevier.
    15. Banks, James & Blundell, Richard & Lewbel, Arthur, 1996. "Tax Reform and Welfare Measurement: Do We Need Demand System Estimation?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(438), pages 1227-1241, September.
    16. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    17. Joachim Merz, 2001. "Was fehlt in der EVS ? Eine Verteilungsanalyse hoher Einkommen mit der verknüpften Einkommensteuerstatistik für Selbständige und abhängig Beschäftigte," FFB-Discussionpaper 30, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)), LEUPHANA University Lüneburg.
    18. Gerhard Wagenhals, 2001. "Incentive and Redistribution Effects of the German Tax Reform 2000," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 57(3), pages 316-332, May.
    19. Hubbard, Robert Glenn, 1985. "Personal Taxation, Pension Wealth, and Portfolio Composition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 53-60, February.
    20. Richard Ochmann, 2014. "Differential income taxation and household asset allocation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(8), pages 880-894, March.
    21. Michael Keen, 2002. "The German Tax Reform of 2000," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(5), pages 603-621, September.
    22. Feldstein, Martin S, 1976. "Personal Taxation and Portfolio Composition: An Econometric Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 631-650, July.
    23. King, Mervyn A., 1983. "Welfare analysis of tax reforms using household data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-214, July.
    24. Deaton,Angus & Muellbauer,John, 1980. "Economics and Consumer Behavior," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521296762.
    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. Richard Ochmann, 2013. "Asset demand in the financial AIDS portfolio model -- evidence from a major tax reform," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(8), pages 649-670, April.
    2. Bofinger, Peter & Schnabel, Isabel & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2015. "Zukunftsfähigkeit in den Mittelpunkt. Jahresgutachten 2015/16 [Focus on Future Viability. Annual Report 2015/16]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201516.

    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. Richard Ochmann, 2014. "Differential income taxation and household asset allocation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(8), pages 880-894, March.
    2. Richard Ochmann, 2013. "Asset demand in the financial AIDS portfolio model -- evidence from a major tax reform," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(8), pages 649-670, April.
    3. Frank M. Fossen & Ray Rees & Davud Rostam-Afschar & Viktor Steiner, 2020. "The effects of income taxation on entrepreneurial investment: A puzzle?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(6), pages 1321-1363, December.
    4. Fossen, Frank M. & Rees, Ray & Rostam-Afschar, Davud & Steiner, Viktor, 2017. "How do entrepreneurial portfolios respond to income taxation?," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 12-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    5. Frank Fossen & Ray Rees & Davud Rostam-Afschar & Viktor Steiner, 2017. "How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Taxation?," CESifo Working Paper Series 6558, CESifo.
    6. Martin Beznoska & Richard Ochmann, 2013. "The interest elasticity of household savings: a structural approach with German micro data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 371-399, August.
    7. Zoutman, Floris T., 2014. "The Effect of Capital Taxes on Household's Portfolio Composition and Intertemporal Choice: Evidence from the Dutch 2001 Capital Income Tax Reform," Discussion Papers 2014/23, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    8. Alan, Sule & Atalay, Kadir & Crossley, Thomas F. & Jeon, Sung-Hee, 2010. "New evidence on taxes and portfolio choice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 813-823, December.
    9. Alan Sule & Honoré Bo E. & Hu Luojia & Leth-Petersen Søren, 2014. "Estimation of Panel Data Regression Models with Two-Sided Censoring or Truncation," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Huizinga, Harry & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes & Wagner, Wolf, 2022. "Taxation and the external wealth of nations: Evidence from bilateral portfolio holdings," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    11. Sauter, Nicolas & Walliser, Jan & Winter, Joachim, 2015. "Tax incentives, bequest motives, and the demand for life insurance: evidence from a natural experiment in Germany," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 525-553, October.
    12. James M. Poterba, 2001. "Taxation and Portfolio Structure: Issues and Implications," NBER Working Papers 8223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Poterba, James M. & Samwick, Andrew A., 2003. "Taxation and household portfolio composition: US evidence from the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 5-38, January.
    14. Schalck, Christophe, 2017. "Tax measures and household financial behaviour: Evidence from France," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 127-135.
    15. Groot, Stefan P.T. & Lejour, Arjan M., 2018. "Financial incentives for mortgage prepayment behavior: Evidence from Dutch micro data," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 237-250.
    16. Tullio Jappelli & Luigi Pistaferri, 2002. "Tax Incentives for Household Saving and Borrowing," CSEF Working Papers 83, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    17. Ole Boysen, 2019. "When does specification or aggregation across consumers matter for economic impact analysis models? An investigation into demand systems," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 137-172, January.
    18. Katarzyna Romaniuk, 2013. "Pension fund taxation and risk-taking: should we switch from the EET to the TEE regime?," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 573-588, November.
    19. Hochgürtel, S. & Alessie, R.J.M. & van Soest, A.H.O., 1995. "Household portfolio allocation in the Netherlands : Saving accounts versus stocks and bonds," Other publications TiSEM 83603afa-eb12-429b-94aa-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Rolf Aaberge & Ugo Colombino, 2014. "Labour Supply Models," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Handbook of Microsimulation Modelling, volume 127, pages 167-221, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital income taxation; household savings; asset demand; welfare effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:diw:diwwpp:dp1083. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    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.