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Taxation, Reranking and Equivalence Scales

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  • Dr Justin van de Ven

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Abstract

This paper considers whether an equivalence scale implicit in transfer policy can be inferred from summary measures of reranking. It is conjectured that, if the government has a distributional objective and formulates tax policy with a view to equitable treatment of income units, then adopting the scale that is implicit in government transfer policy should only identify reranking that has no equity foundation. This motivates the question: Is the incidence of reranking associated with a transfer system minimised by the equivalence scale that is implicit in the transfer system? The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the equivalence scale which minimises reranking, while not necessarily equal to the closest approximation to the one that is implicit in transfer policy, is nevertheless in its vicinity

Suggested Citation

  • Dr Justin van de Ven, 2003. "Taxation, Reranking and Equivalence Scales," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 227, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:nsr:niesrd:115
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    Cited by:

    1. Justin Ven & Nicolas Hérault & Francisco Azpitarte, 2017. "Identifying tax implicit equivalence scales," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(3), pages 257-275, September.
    2. John Pickering & Duncan Matthews, 1999. "Rule Making in Pursuit of a Single European Market," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 399-416.
    3. Creedy, John & Li, Shuyun May & Moslehi, Solmaz, 2010. "Inequality Aversion And The Optimal Composition Of Government Expenditure," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(S2), pages 290-306, November.
    4. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    5. John Creedy & Jamas Enright & Norman Gemmell & Nick McNabb, 2008. "Equity and Efficiency Measures of Tax-Transfer Systems: Some Evidence for New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 08/04, New Zealand Treasury.
    6. John Creedy, 2006. "Evaluating Policy: Welfare Weights And Value Judgements," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 971, The University of Melbourne.
    7. John Creedy & Ross Guest, 2008. "Discounting and the Time Preference Rate," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(264), pages 109-127, March.
    8. Koeniger, Winfried, 2001. "Labor and Financial Market Interactions: The Case of Labor Income Risk and Car Insurance in the UK 1969-95," IZA Discussion Papers 240, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Simone Pellegrino & Achille Vernizzi, 2010. "The 2007 Personal Income Tax Reform in Italy: Effects on Potential Equity, Horizontal Inequity and Re-ranking," Working papers 14, Former Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato", University of Torino.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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