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The Elasticity of Taxable Income in New Zealand

Author Info

  • Claus, Iris
  • Creedy, John
  • Teng, Josh

Abstract

This paper reports estimates of the elasticity of taxable income with respect to the net-of-tax rate for New Zealand taxpayers. The relative stability of the New Zealand personal income tax system, in terms of marginal rates, thresholds and the tax base, provides helpful conditions for deriving these estimates. The elasticity of taxable income was estimated to be substantially higher for the highest income groups. Changes in the timing of income flows for the higher income recipients were found to be an important response to the announcement of a new higher-rate bracket. The marginal welfare costs of personal income taxation were consistent across years, being relatively small for all but the higher tax brackets. For the top marginal rate bracket of 39 per cent, the welfare cost of raising an extra dollar of tax revenue was estimated to be well in excess of a dollar.

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File URL: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/2427
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Paper provided by Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance in its series Working Paper Series with number 2427.

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Date of creation: 2012
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Handle: RePEc:vuw:vuwcpf:2427
Contact details of provider: Postal:
School of Accounting & Commercial Law, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Phone: +64 (4) 463 5775
Fax: +64 (4) 463 5076
Web page: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacl/about/chair-in-public-finance
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Keywords: Income taxation; Taxable income; Elasticity of taxable income; Excess burden of taxation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
  • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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  1. John Creedy & Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2011. "Measuring welfare changes in behavioural microsimulation modelling: Accounting for the random utility component," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 0, pages 5-34, May.
  2. John Creedy & Nicolas Herault & Guyonne Kalb, 2008. "Comparing Welfare Change Measures withIncome Change Measures in Behavioural Policy Simulations," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1030, The University of Melbourne.
  3. Lewis Evans & Arthur Grimes & Bryce Wilkinson, 1996. "Economic Reform in New Zealand 1984-95: The Pursuit of Efficiency," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1856-1902, December.
  4. Emmanuel Saez & Joel Slemrod & Seth H. Giertz, 2012. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 3-50, March.
  5. Jorge Onrubia?Fernández & José Félix Sanz?Sanz, 2009. "Reported Taxable Income and Marginal Tax Rates: Evidence for Spain Based on the Fiscal Drag," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1075, The University of Melbourne.
  6. Martin Feldstein, 1993. "The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the1986 Tax Reform Act," NBER Working Papers 4496, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. A. B. Atkinson & Andrew Leigh, 2008. "Top Incomes In New Zealand 1921-2005: Understanding The Effects Of Marginal Tax Rates, Migration Threat, And The Macroeconomy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(2), pages 149-165, 06.
  8. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act," Scholarly Articles 2766676, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  9. Lindsey, Lawrence B., 1987. "Individual taxpayer response to tax cuts: 1982-1984 : With implications for the revenue maximizing tax rate," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 173-206, July.
  10. J. Barkley Rosser, 2009. "Introduction," Chapters, in: Handbook of Research on Complexity, chapter 1 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  11. Giertz, Seth, 2004. "Recent Literature on Taxable-Income Elasticities," MPRA Paper 16159, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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Cited by:

  1. John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2013. "Revenue-Maximising Elasticities of Taxable Income in Multi-Rate Income Tax Structures," Treasury Working Paper Series 13/27, New Zealand Treasury.
  2. Simon Carey & John Creedy & Norman Gemmell & Josh Teng, 2013. "Regression Estimates of the Elasticity of Taxable Income and the Choice of Instrument," Treasury Working Paper Series 13/08, New Zealand Treasury.
  3. Atala M. Qtish & Adel M. Qatawneh, 2015. "Critical Examination of the Impact of E-Government on the Income Tax Collections: A Case Study in the Income and Sales Tax Department of Jordan," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 5(4), pages 27-36, April.
  4. José Félix Sanz-Sanz & María Arrazola-Vacas & Nuria Rueda-López & Desiderio Romero-Jordán, 2015. "Reported gross income and marginal tax rates: estimation of the behavioural reactions of Spanish taxpayers," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 466-484, January.
  5. Arrazola, María & de Hevia, José & Romero, Desiderio & Sanz-Sanz, José Félix, 2014. "Personal Income Tax Reforms and the Elasticity of Reported Income to Marginal Tax Rates: An Empirical Analysis Applied to Spain," Working Paper Series 3593, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
  6. Creedy, John & Gemmell, Norman, 2012. "Measuring Revenue Responses to Tax Rate Changes in Multi-Rate Income Tax Systems: Behavioural and Structural Factors," Working Paper Series 2430, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
  7. Creedy, John, 2013. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income, Welfare Changes and Optimal Tax Rates," Working Paper Series 2875, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
  8. John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2011. "Tax Rates and Revenue Changes: Behavioural and Structural Factors," Treasury Working Paper Series 11/05, New Zealand Treasury.
  9. Ball, Christopher & Creedy, John, 2015. "Inequality in New Zealand 1983/84 to 2013/14," Working Paper Series 4665, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
  10. Carlos Díaz Caro & Jorge Onrubia Fernández, 2015. "Elasticidades de la renta gravable y costes de eficiencia en el IRPF dual," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2015-02, FEDEA.

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