Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and accidents in developing countries--all of which are typically major problems--they are often opposed on distributional grounds. Yet few studies have investigated fuel tax incidence in a developing country context. We use household survey data and income-outcome coefficients to analyze fuel tax incidence in Costa Rica. We find that the effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through direct spending on gasoline would be progressive, its effect through spending on diesel--both directly and via bus transportation--would be regressive (mainly because poorer households rely heavily on buses), and its effect through spending on goods other than fuel and bus transportation would be relatively small, albeit regressive. Finally, we find that although the overall effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through all types of direct and indirect spending would be slightly regressive, the magnitude of this combined effect would be modest. We conclude that distributional concerns need not rule out using fuel taxes to address pressing public health and safety problems, particularly if gasoline and diesel taxes can be differentiated.
{"title":"Fuel Tax Incidence in Developing Countries: The Case of Costa Rica","authors":"A. Blackman, R. Osakwe, F. Alpízar","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1505423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1505423","url":null,"abstract":"Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and accidents in developing countries--all of which are typically major problems--they are often opposed on distributional grounds. Yet few studies have investigated fuel tax incidence in a developing country context. We use household survey data and income-outcome coefficients to analyze fuel tax incidence in Costa Rica. We find that the effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through direct spending on gasoline would be progressive, its effect through spending on diesel--both directly and via bus transportation--would be regressive (mainly because poorer households rely heavily on buses), and its effect through spending on goods other than fuel and bus transportation would be relatively small, albeit regressive. Finally, we find that although the overall effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through all types of direct and indirect spending would be slightly regressive, the magnitude of this combined effect would be modest. We conclude that distributional concerns need not rule out using fuel taxes to address pressing public health and safety problems, particularly if gasoline and diesel taxes can be differentiated.","PeriodicalId":350541,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Incidence (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130330263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
States levy insurance premium taxes, which are essentially gross receipt taxes on premiums, with insurance companies paying the higher of the tax rate in the state in which the company is domiciled and the state in which the policy is written. Using a state-level panel data set from 1992-2004 for the property-casualty insurance industry, we explore the effect of the effective insurance premium tax rates on state employment related to the insurance industry. We estimate both a static model and a dynamic adjustment model. We find that the insurance premium tax has a negative but modest effect on employment in the insurance industry.
{"title":"The Effect of Insurance Premium Taxes on Employment","authors":"Martin Grace, D. Sjoquist, Laura A. Wheeler","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1260392","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1260392","url":null,"abstract":"States levy insurance premium taxes, which are essentially gross receipt taxes on premiums, with insurance companies paying the higher of the tax rate in the state in which the company is domiciled and the state in which the policy is written. Using a state-level panel data set from 1992-2004 for the property-casualty insurance industry, we explore the effect of the effective insurance premium tax rates on state employment related to the insurance industry. We estimate both a static model and a dynamic adjustment model. We find that the insurance premium tax has a negative but modest effect on employment in the insurance industry.","PeriodicalId":350541,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Incidence (Topic)","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133111307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Over a decade ago, several Canadian provinces replaced their retail sales taxes by value-added taxes. This paper estimates the effects of this tax substitution on business investment in the reforming provinces. Consistent with theory, we find that the reform led to significant increases in machinery and equipment investment, in the short run at least. This evidence suggests that a similar reform in a US state with similar retail sales taxes may also be expected to result in increases, possibly substantial, in capital stocks.
{"title":"The Impact on Investment of Replacing a Retail Sales Tax by a Value-Added Tax: Evidence from Canadian Experience","authors":"M. Smart, R. Bird","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1273773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1273773","url":null,"abstract":"Over a decade ago, several Canadian provinces replaced their retail sales taxes by value-added taxes. This paper estimates the effects of this tax substitution on business investment in the reforming provinces. Consistent with theory, we find that the reform led to significant increases in machinery and equipment investment, in the short run at least. This evidence suggests that a similar reform in a US state with similar retail sales taxes may also be expected to result in increases, possibly substantial, in capital stocks.","PeriodicalId":350541,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Incidence (Topic)","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126491996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}