IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpe/papers/ces0008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What makes Personal Income Taxes progressive? The case of Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • André Decoster
  • Isabelle Standaert
  • Christian Valenduc
  • Guy Van Camp

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the progressivity impact of various components of the Belgian personal income tax system, before and after a major reform of this system. The reform reduced the top tax rates, broadened the tax base and increased tax credits. We show that, contrary to the opinion, commonly expressed in public debates, the reform did not reduce the liability progression of the system and that the rate structure is relatively unimportant in explaining progressivity.

Suggested Citation

  • André Decoster & Isabelle Standaert & Christian Valenduc & Guy Van Camp, 2000. "What makes Personal Income Taxes progressive? The case of Belgium," Public Economics Working Paper Series ces0008, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Working Group Public Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:wpe:papers:ces0008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.kuleuven.ac.be/ew/academic/econover/Papers/DPS0008.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. F. Chantreuil & A. Trannoy, 1999. "Inequality decomposition values : the trade-off between marginality and consistency," THEMA Working Papers 99-24, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy & van der Burg, Hattem & Calonge, Samuel & Christiansen, Terkel & Citoni, Guido & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gerfin, Michael & Gross, Lorna & Hakinnen, Unto, 1999. "Redistributive effect, progressivity and differential tax treatment: Personal income taxes in twelve OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 73-98, April.
    3. Keen, Michael & Papapanagos, Harry & Shorrocks, Anthony, 2000. "Tax Reform and Progressivity," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(460), pages 50-68, January.
    4. Bishop, John A & Formby, John P & Zheng, Buhong, 1998. "Inference Tests for Gini-Based Tax Progressivity Indexes," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 16(3), pages 322-330, July.
    5. Feldstein, Martin, 1988. "Imputing Corporate Tax Liabilities to Individual Taxpayers," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 41(1), pages 37-59, March.
    6. Feldstein, Martin, 1988. "Imputing Corporate Tax Liabilities to Individual Taxpayers," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 41(1), pages 37-59, March.
    7. Pfahler, Wilhelm, 1987. "Redistributive Effects of Tax Progressivity: Evaluating a General Class of Aggregate Measures," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 42(1), pages 1-31.
    8. André Decoster & Guy Van Camp, 1998. "The unit of analysis in microsimulation models for personal income taxes: fiscal unit or household?," Public Economics Working Paper Series ces9833, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Working Group Public Economics.
    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. Duclos, Jean-Yves, 1997. "The asymptotic distribution of linear indices of inequality, progressivity and redistribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 51-57, January.
    11. John Bishop & K. Chow & John Formby & Chih-Chin Ho, 1997. "Did Tax Reform Reduce Actual US Progressivity? Evidence from the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 177-197, May.
    12. Pfahler, Wilhelm, 1990. "Redistributive Effect of Income Taxation: Decomposing Tax Base and Tax Rates Effects," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 121-129, April.
    13. Pechman, Joseph A, 1990. "The Future of the Income Tax," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 1-20, March.
    14. Pechman, Joseph A, 1987. "Tax Reform: Theory and Practice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 11-28, Summer.
    15. John P. Formby & W. James Smith & Paul D. Thistle, 1990. "The Average Tax Burden and the Welfare Implications of Global Tax Progressivity," Public Finance Review, , vol. 18(1), pages 3-24, January.
    16. Jenkins, Stephen P & Cowell, Frank A, 1994. "Parametric Equivalence Scales and Scale Relativities," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 891-900, July.
    17. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Equivalence Scale Relativities and the Extent of Inequality and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(414), pages 1067-1082, September.
    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. Sologon, Denisa Maria & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Linden, Jules & Kyzyma, Iryna & Loughrey, Jason, 2022. "Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 15738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. André DECOSTER & Guy VAN CAMP, 2000. "Redistributive Effects of the Shift from Personal Income Taxes to Indirect Taxes: Belgium 1988-1993," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces0007, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    3. Can, Zeynep Gizem & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Sologon, Denisa Maria & Smith, Darius & Griffin, Rosaleen & Murray, Una, 2023. "Modelling the Distributional Effects of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Turkey and the South Caucasus: A Microsimulation Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 16619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. 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.
    5. Vaqar Ahmed & Cathal O'Donoghue, 2009. "Redistributive Effect of Personal Income Taxation in Pakistan," Working Papers 0143, National University of Ireland Galway, Department of Economics, revised 2009.

    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. John Bishop & K. Chow & John Formby & Chih-Chin Ho, 1997. "Did Tax Reform Reduce Actual US Progressivity? Evidence from the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 177-197, May.
    2. André DECOSTER & Guy VAN CAMP, 2000. "Redistributive Effects of the Shift from Personal Income Taxes to Indirect Taxes: Belgium 1988-1993," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces0007, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    3. Alan J. Auerbach & Joel Slemrod, 1997. "The Economic Effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 589-632, June.
    4. Jane G. Gravelle, 1992. "Equity Effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 27-44, Winter.
    5. Andrá Decoster & Guy Van Camp, 2001. "Redistributive effects of the shift from personal income taxes to indirect taxes: Belgium 1988-93," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 79-106, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Miyazaki, Takeshi & Kitamura, Yukinobu, 2014. "Redistributive Effects of Income Tax Rates and Tax Base 1984-2009: Evidence from Japanese Tax Reforms," Discussion Paper Series 610, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    8. Angela Daley & Thesia I. Garner & Shelley Phipps & Eva Sierminska, 2020. "Differences across Place and Time in Household Expenditure Patterns: Implications for the Estimation of Equivalence Scales," Economic Working Papers 520, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    9. Espen Bratberg & Sigve Tjøtta, 2008. "Income effects of divorce in families with dependent children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(2), pages 439-461, April.
    10. Boyd H. Hunter & Steven Kennedy & Nicholas Biddle, 2004. "Indigenous and Other Australian Poverty: Revisiting the Importance of Equivalence Scales," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 80(251), pages 411-422, December.
    11. Peter Lambert & Thor Thoresen, 2009. "Base independence in the analysis of tax policy effects: with an application to Norway 1992–2004," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(2), pages 219-252, April.
    12. Pogorelskiy, Kirill & Seidl, Christian & Traub, Stefan, 2010. "Tax progression: International and intertemporal comparison using LIS data," Economics Working Papers 2010-08, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    13. Richard V. Burkhauser & Timothy M. Smeeding & Joachim Merz, 1996. "Relative Inequality And Poverty In Germany And The United States Using Alternative Equivalence Scales," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 381-400, December.
    14. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    15. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    16. Angela Daley & Thesia Garner & Shelley Phipps & Eva Sierminska, 2020. "Differences across countries and time in household expenditure patterns: implications for the estimation of equivalence scales," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6), pages 734-757, November.
    17. John Creedy & Catherine Sleeman, 2004. "Adult Equivalence Scales, Inequality and Poverty in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/21, New Zealand Treasury.
    18. Avram, Silvia, 2014. "The distributional effects of personal income tax expenditure," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-26, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    19. Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees, 1997. "Distributional effects of a flat tax: An empirical analysis for the Netherlands," MPRA Paper 20184, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Paolo Figini, 1998. "Inequality Measures, Equivalence Scales and Adjustment for Household Size and Composition," LIS Working papers 185, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    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:wpe:papers:ces0008. 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: Kristof Bosmans (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cekulbe.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.