IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mod/depeco/0152.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Contribution of Proportional Taxes and Tax-Free Cash Benefits to Income Redistribution over the Period 2005-2018: Evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Boscolo

Abstract

During the last two decades a growing interest in understanding what determines the redistributive role of tax-benefit systems has been recorded worldwide. For the case of Italy, the previous analyses were mainly focused on quantifying the contribution of marginal tax rates, deductions and tax credits to the redistributive capacity of PIT, neglecting the effect on income redistribution of proportional taxes and income sources exempt from taxation such as tax-free cash benefits. The following paper aims to fill this gap by applying two alternative Gini-based decomposition methodologies (Onrubia et al., 2014; Urban, 2014) to the Italian tax-benefit system’s redistributive power over the period 2005-2018. The contribution of each tax-benefit instrument is quantified for several baseline policy scenarios which diverge from each other for being representative of different degrees of extension of the tax-benefit system under study.

Suggested Citation

  • 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".
    • Handle: RePEc:mod:depeco:0152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://155.185.68.2/wpdemb/0152.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier Bargain & Tim Callan, 2010. "Analysing the effects of tax-benefit reforms on income distribution: a decomposition approach," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Davide Azzolini & Martina Bazzoli & Silvia De Poli & Carlo Fiorio & Samuele Poy, 2017. "Developing and Validating Regional Microsimulation Models. TREMOD: The Tax-Benefit Model of the Italian Province of Trento," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 5-33.
    4. 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.
    5. Ivica Urban, 2008. "Income Redistribution in Croatia: The Role of Individual Taxes and Social Transfers," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 32(3), pages 387-403.
    6. 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.
    7. Massimo Baldini & Elizabeth Jane Casabianca & Elena Giarda & Lorenzo Lusignoli, 2018. "The Impact of REI on Italian Households' Income: A Micro and Macro Evaluation," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 103-134.
    8. Gerlinde Verbist & Francesco Figari, 2013. "GINI DP 88: The redistributive effect and progressivity of taxes revisited: An International Comparison across the European Union," GINI Discussion Papers 88, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    9. 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.
    10. Andrea Albarea & Michele Bernasconi & Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi & Francesca Zantomio, 2015. "Accounting for Tax Evasion Profiles and Tax Expenditures in Microsimulation Modelling. The BETAMOD Model for Personal Income Taxes in Italy," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 8(3), pages 99-136.
    11. Duclos, Jean-Yves, 1993. "Progressivity, Redistribution, and Equity, with Application to the British Tax and Benefit System," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 48(3), pages 350-365.
    12. Lerman, Robert I & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1985. "Income Inequality Effects by Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 151-156, February.
    13. Paolo Di Caro, 2018. "Redistribution in real-world PIT: Evidence from Italian tax records," Working Papers wp2018-2, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.
    14. Shorrocks, A F, 1980. "The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(3), pages 613-625, April.
    15. repec:ijm:journl:v109:y:2017:i:1:p:39-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. 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.
    17. Holly Sutherland & Francesco Figari, 2013. "EUROMOD: the European Union tax-benefit microsimulation model," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 1(6), pages 4-26.
    18. Clemens Fuest & Judith Niehues & Andreas Peichl, 2010. "The Redistributive Effects of Tax Benefit Systems in the Enlarged EU," Public Finance Review, , vol. 38(4), pages 473-500, July.
    19. Gian Paolo Barbetta & Simone Pellegrino & Gilberto Turati, 2018. "What Explains the Redistribution Achieved by the Italian Personal Income Tax? Evidence from Administrative Data," Public Finance Review, , vol. 46(1), pages 7-28, January.
    20. M Luisa Maitino & Letizia Ravagli & Nicola Sciclone, 2017. "Microreg: A Traditional Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Model Extended To Indirect Taxes And In Kind Transfers," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 10(1), pages 5-38.
    21. Nicola Curci & Marco Savegnago & Marika Cioffi, 2017. "BIMic: the Bank of Italy microsimulation model for the Italian tax and benefit system," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 394, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    22. Francesca Gastaldi & Paolo Liberati & Elena Pisano & Simone Tedeschi, 2017. "Regressivity-Reducing VAT Reforms," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 10(1), pages 39-72.
    23. Gianni Betti & Gabriella Donatiello & Vijay Verma, 2011. "The siena microsimulation model (sm2) for net-gross conversion of eu-silc income variables," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 4(1), pages 35-53.
    24. 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.
    25. 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.
    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. 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".

    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. 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.
    2. Stefano Boscolo, 2022. "The contribution of tax-benefit instruments to income redistribution in Italy," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2), pages 181-231.
    3. 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.
    4. 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".
    5. Stefano Boscolo, 2021. "On the horizontal inequity effect of the erosion of the pit base: the case of Italy," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 43-82.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Ivica Urban, 2009. "Kakwani decomposition of redistributive effect: Origins, critics and upgrades," Working Papers 148, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    9. SOLOGON Denisa & ALMEIDA Vanda & VAN KERM Philippe, 2019. "Accounting for the distributional effects of the 2007-2008 crisis and the Economic Adjustment Program in Portugal," LISER Working Paper Series 2019-05, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    10. Nerijus Černiauskas & Denisa M. Sologon & Cathal O’Donoghue & Linas Tarasonis, 2022. "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Lithuania: The Role of Policy, Labor Market, Income, and Demographics," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(S1), pages 131-166, April.
    11. Stefano Boscolo & Giovanni Gallo, 2024. "The Struggle of Being Poor and Claimant: Evidence on the Non-Take-Up of Social Policies in Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 10(2), pages 625-648, July.
    12. Denisa M. Sologon & Philippe Kerm & Jinjing Li & Cathal O’Donoghue, 2021. "Accounting for differences in income inequality across countries: tax-benefit policy, labour market structure, returns and demographics," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(1), pages 13-43, March.
    13. Thor O. Thoresen & Zhiyang Jia & Peter J. Lambert, 2013. "Distributional benchmarking in tax policy evaluations," Discussion Papers 765, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    14. Davide Azzolini & Martina Bazzoli & Silvia De Poli & Carlo Fiorio & Samuele Poy, 2017. "Developing and Validating Regional Microsimulation Models. TREMOD: The Tax-Benefit Model of the Italian Province of Trento," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 5-33.
    15. Nerijus Cerniauskas & Denisa M. Sologon & Cathal O’Donoghue & Linas Tarasonis, 2020. "Changes in income inequality in Lithuania: the role of policy, labour market structure, returns and demographics," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 71, Bank of Lithuania.
    16. Andrea Albarea & Michele Bernasconi & Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi & Francesca Zantomio, 2015. "Accounting for Tax Evasion Profiles and Tax Expenditures in Microsimulation Modelling. The BETAMOD Model for Personal Income Taxes in Italy," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 8(3), pages 99-136.
    17. 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.
    18. SOLOGON Denisa & VAN KERM Philippe & LI Jinjing & O'DONOGHUE Cathal, 2018. "Accounting for Differences in Income Inequality across Countries: Ireland and the United Kingdom," LISER Working Paper Series 2018-01, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    19. Makarski, Krzysztof & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2023. "Preference for redistribution during structural change with labor mobility frictions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax-benefit system; progressive taxation; decomposition approach; redistribution; EUROMOD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

    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:mod:depeco:0152. 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: Sara Colombini (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demodit.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.