Political variables play a crucial role in shaping tax systems and tax reforms in Europe. This paper presents new evidence on the relationship between political factors and tax design in European countries. For the period 1995-2012, we find that, when the country’s ruling coalition is left-wing, income taxes become more relevant. Moreover, when the largest government party is more powerful, the share of property taxes over GDP increases, while the number of seats held by the second government party is positively associated with the level of consumption taxes over GDP. We also find that a more powerful government is associated with a lower top tax rate of the personal income tax (PIT). Building upon this evidence, we review the main arguments developed by the empirical political economy literature on taxation and discuss the role of political factors in fundamental issues of taxation: redistribution and progressivity; tax design and its impact on growth; tax complexity; tax administration; tax competition; and the need for tax reforms.
{"title":"The Political Economy of Taxation in Europe","authors":"P. Profeta, Simona Scabrosetti","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.5","url":null,"abstract":"Political variables play a crucial role in shaping tax systems and tax reforms in Europe. This paper \u0000presents new evidence on the relationship between political factors and tax design in European countries. \u0000For the period 1995-2012, we find that, when the country’s ruling coalition is left-wing, income \u0000taxes become more relevant. Moreover, when the largest government party is more powerful, the share \u0000of property taxes over GDP increases, while the number of seats held by the second government party \u0000is positively associated with the level of consumption taxes over GDP. We also find that a more powerful \u0000government is associated with a lower top tax rate of the personal income tax (PIT). Building upon \u0000this evidence, we review the main arguments developed by the empirical political economy literature \u0000on taxation and discuss the role of political factors in fundamental issues of taxation: redistribution and \u0000progressivity; tax design and its impact on growth; tax complexity; tax administration; tax competition; \u0000and the need for tax reforms.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"220 1","pages":"139-172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41692622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We study the program Prestamos Renta Universidad that provided loans to Master’s students in Spain between 2007 and 2010. We estimate predicted income functions and calculate individual repayment burdens and government cost using unconditional quantile regression analysis. We exploit the changing conditions of the successive calls to illustrate three important lessons for the design of student loan schemes: fixed monthly repayments exert an excessive burden to graduates at the lower end of the in¬come distribution; general interest rate subsidies are costly to the taxpayer and unfairly distributed; while the deferment of payments due in case of hardship protects low earners, general grace periods are costly and inequitable.
{"title":"Estimating taxpayer subsidies and individual repayment burdens of a student loan program in Spain","authors":"F. Muñoz, Elena del Rey Canteli, N. González","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.3","url":null,"abstract":"We study the program Prestamos Renta Universidad that provided loans to Master’s students in Spain between 2007 and 2010. We estimate predicted income functions and calculate individual repayment burdens and government cost using unconditional quantile regression analysis. We exploit the changing conditions of the successive calls to illustrate three important lessons for the design of student loan schemes: fixed monthly repayments exert an excessive burden to graduates at the lower end of the in¬come distribution; general interest rate subsidies are costly to the taxpayer and unfairly distributed; while the deferment of payments due in case of hardship protects low earners, general grace periods are costly and inequitable.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"220 1","pages":"89-106"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45247179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Este trabajo analiza empiricamente los determinantes de la satisfaccion de los espanoles con el conjun¬to de prestaciones y servicios publicos. Con base en Teoria de la desconfirmacion de expectativas y los desarrollos de la ciencia politica, desde el punto de vista teorico se detalla los factores que modulan la satisfaccion de los ciudadanos con los bienes y servicios. Novedosamente, se amplia el concepto de satisfaccion para incluir dentro de el la perspectiva tributaria. Acto seguido, con los datos contenidos en la matriz “Barometro Fiscal IEF 2003-2014” se plantea una aplicacion empirica sobre el caso espa¬nol para el periodo 2003-2014. Los resultados obtenidos confirman las predicciones teoricas.
{"title":"Determinantes de la satisfacción de los españoles con las prestaciones y servicios públicos: un enfoque de sociología tributaria con microdatos","authors":"L. Cerno, César Pérez López, Eduardo Sanz Arcega","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.17.1.2","url":null,"abstract":"Este trabajo analiza empiricamente los determinantes de la satisfaccion de los espanoles con el conjun¬to de prestaciones y servicios publicos. Con base en Teoria de la desconfirmacion de expectativas y los desarrollos de la ciencia politica, desde el punto de vista teorico se detalla los factores que modulan la satisfaccion de los ciudadanos con los bienes y servicios. Novedosamente, se amplia el concepto de satisfaccion para incluir dentro de el la perspectiva tributaria. Acto seguido, con los datos contenidos en la matriz “Barometro Fiscal IEF 2003-2014” se plantea una aplicacion empirica sobre el caso espa¬nol para el periodo 2003-2014. Los resultados obtenidos confirman las predicciones teoricas.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"220 1","pages":"57-87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2017-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43471295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper analyses how the economic crisis has modified the relationship between income and mate¬rial deprivation in Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the crisis. We show that the degree of overlap between low income and material deprivation has increased by around 50% from 2008 to 2012, even despite the offsetting effect of the reduction in the (relative) income poverty threshold. We demonstrate that the Great Recession has produced a significant recomposition of the poverty profile in Spain. Our findings underline the increasing role played by long-term unemployment and by differences in tenure status of households in predicting this overlap, four years after the bursting of the property bubble.
{"title":"Has the Great Recession Changed the Deprivation Profile of Low Income Groups? Evidence from Spain","authors":"R. Martínez, C. Navarro","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.3.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.3.4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses how the economic crisis has modified the relationship between income and mate¬rial deprivation in Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the crisis. We show that the degree of overlap between low income and material deprivation has increased by around 50% from 2008 to 2012, even despite the offsetting effect of the reduction in the (relative) income poverty threshold. We demonstrate that the Great Recession has produced a significant recomposition of the poverty profile in Spain. Our findings underline the increasing role played by long-term unemployment and by differences in tenure status of households in predicting this overlap, four years after the bursting of the property bubble.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"218 1","pages":"79-104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A review of the theoretical literature on optimal indirect taxation reveals that analytical arguments in favor of uniform indirect taxation seem rather weak and unrealistic; hence determining the optimal tax structure remains an empirical issue. However, reviewing the empirical-computational studies pub¬lished so far, shows that most of them operate under rather restrictive and simplistic frameworks. There is little computational support for uniformity, particularly when the models approach real world com¬plexity. It appears that in a many-consumer economy, differentiated and progressive indirect taxation is likely to be the optimal solution
{"title":"A literature review on optimal indirect taxation and the uniformity debate","authors":"O. Nygård, J. Revesz","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.3.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.3.5","url":null,"abstract":"A review of the theoretical literature on optimal indirect taxation reveals that analytical arguments in favor of uniform indirect taxation seem rather weak and unrealistic; hence determining the optimal tax structure remains an empirical issue. However, reviewing the empirical-computational studies pub¬lished so far, shows that most of them operate under rather restrictive and simplistic frameworks. There is little computational support for uniformity, particularly when the models approach real world com¬plexity. It appears that in a many-consumer economy, differentiated and progressive indirect taxation is likely to be the optimal solution","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"218 1","pages":"107-140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we study an education-planning problem by using a mechanism design approach. We consider a model where agents have different abilities in acquiring education and belong to different social groups (for instance, races or genders). Under the information constraint that the abilities of agents are unobservable but group memberships are observable, we derive two sets of education policies derived under Rawlsian and utilitarian social welfare functions. Our main results show that the utilitarian planner does not discriminate agents by their social group membership, while the Rawlsian planner provides a form of affirmative action policy. We also study second-best optimal education policies in the case of general degrees of inequality aversion. In this case, it is shown that affirmative action is not necessarily supported, and the differences in education levels are determined by the agents’ marginal effects of utility to their group’s aggregated welfare.
{"title":"Education Inequality among Different Social Groups","authors":"Kaname Miyagishima","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.1","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we study an education-planning problem by using a mechanism design approach. We consider a model where agents have different abilities in acquiring education and belong to different social groups (for instance, races or genders). Under the information constraint that the abilities of agents are unobservable but group memberships are observable, we derive two sets of education policies derived under Rawlsian and utilitarian social welfare functions. Our main results show that the utilitarian planner does not discriminate agents by their social group membership, while the Rawlsian planner provides a form of affirmative action policy. We also study second-best optimal education policies in the case of general degrees of inequality aversion. In this case, it is shown that affirmative action is not necessarily supported, and the differences in education levels are determined by the agents’ marginal effects of utility to their group’s aggregated welfare.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"260 1","pages":"11-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The reform of international taxation -- how national tax systems interact with each other – is an issue that is always technically complex, often economically significant, and sometimes politically explosive. Some expect major changes in international taxation in the near future but no one yet knows what changes might made or when, how, and how effectively they might be implemented. Instead of speculating about such matters, this paper considers the process by which countries are attempting to reform international taxation problems, essentially through complex technical and political negotiations intended to produce an improved set of “soft” law arrangements, adherence to which will, as in the present system, be essentially voluntary. The current process, although under the aegis of the OECD, is considerably more inclusive than earlier negotiations on international taxation, which were largely between developed countries that were predominantly capital exporters. Greater inclusivity may make negotiations more difficult to conclude successfully but it may also result in a system that will be more widely accepted as fair. Moreover, experience gained through the present prolonged and intensive negotiations on international taxation may perhaps suggest a more fruitful approach to dealing with such other “global public goods” problems as climate change.
{"title":"Reforming International Taxation: Is the Process the Real Product?","authors":"R. Bird","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.5","url":null,"abstract":"The reform of international taxation -- how national tax systems interact with each other – is an issue that is always technically complex, often economically significant, and sometimes politically explosive. Some expect major changes in international taxation in the near future but no one yet knows what changes might made or when, how, and how effectively they might be implemented. Instead of speculating about such matters, this paper considers the process by which countries are attempting to reform international taxation problems, essentially through complex technical and political negotiations intended to produce an improved set of “soft” law arrangements, adherence to which will, as in the present system, be essentially voluntary. The current process, although under the aegis of the OECD, is considerably more inclusive than earlier negotiations on international taxation, which were largely between developed countries that were predominantly capital exporters. Greater inclusivity may make negotiations more difficult to conclude successfully but it may also result in a system that will be more widely accepted as fair. Moreover, experience gained through the present prolonged and intensive negotiations on international taxation may perhaps suggest a more fruitful approach to dealing with such other “global public goods” problems as climate change.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"118 1","pages":"159-180"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The interrelation among economic growth, income inequality, and fiscal performance is very complex. The paper provides the analysis of the interrelations among these variables jointly by the structural VAR methodology, examining also transmission channels among them. This approach allows exploring dynamic interactions among them and feedback effects on each other. The empirical analysis is implemented for the Anglo-Saxon countries, the UK, the USA, and Canada. We find that income inequality has negative effect on economic growth in the case of the UK. The effect is positive in the cases of the USA and Canada. The increase in income inequality worsens fiscal performance for all the countries.
{"title":"Interrelation among Economic Growth, Income Inequality, and Fiscal Performance: Evidence from Anglo-Saxon Countries","authors":"Karen Davtyan","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.2.2","url":null,"abstract":"The interrelation among economic growth, income inequality, and fiscal performance is very complex. The paper provides the analysis of the interrelations among these variables jointly by the structural VAR methodology, examining also transmission channels among them. This approach allows exploring dynamic interactions among them and feedback effects on each other. The empirical analysis is implemented for the Anglo-Saxon countries, the UK, the USA, and Canada. We find that income inequality has negative effect on economic growth in the case of the UK. The effect is positive in the cases of the USA and Canada. The increase in income inequality worsens fiscal performance for all the countries.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"217 1","pages":"37-66"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, we estimate the total earnings losses of male workers with a partial disability, i.e., they are able to work at a different occupation after the disability’s onset. We use a Spanish administrative dataset (Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales) from a specific partial disability pension scheme (Incapacidad Permanente Total). Using propensity score estimators combined with difference-in-differences, the estimation of the causal effect of the disability onset shows earnings losses to be approximately €400 per month for the first two years. For male workers over 54, total earnings losses are greater although they receive greater benefits.
在这篇文章中，我们估计了部分残疾的男性工人的总收入损失，即他们在残疾发作后能够在不同的职业工作。我们使用来自特定部分残疾养老金计划(Incapacidad Permanente Total)的西班牙行政数据集(musea Continua de Vidas Laborales)。使用倾向得分估计值结合差异中的差异，对残疾发病的因果效应的估计显示，前两年每月的收入损失约为400欧元。对于54岁以上的男性工人来说，尽管他们获得的福利更多，但总收入损失更大。
{"title":"Do partial disability pensions close the earnings gap","authors":"B. Cueto, M. Malo","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.1.5","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we estimate the total earnings losses of male workers with a partial disability, i.e., they are able to work at a different occupation after the disability’s onset. We use a Spanish administrative dataset (Muestra Continua de Vidas Laborales) from a specific partial disability pension scheme (Incapacidad Permanente Total). Using propensity score estimators combined with difference-in-differences, the estimation of the causal effect of the disability onset shows earnings losses to be approximately €400 per month for the first two years. For male workers over 54, total earnings losses are greater although they receive greater benefits.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"216 1","pages":"103-126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The pardon is a legal, although controversial, instrument with a long history that persists in many different judicial systems across the world. The juridical literature often considers it to be a perversion in the separation of powers within the State, and the motivations behind it are always under scrutiny. In this paper we seek to establish whether there are specific factors that affect and determine pardons. Using a database of all pardons granted in Spain between 1995 and 2013, including our own elaborated individual data, the econometrical estimations produce the following conclusions: firstly, Spain’s right-wing political party processes pardons faster than that of the left; secondly, and due to public concern, pardons are less frequent near elections; and thirdly, the higher the fine, the faster the pardon. These results show that the pardon is used in a discretionary way and in most cases greatly distorts the separation of powers that should provide the basis of any healthy democratic system.
{"title":"Pardon does not forgive democracy: econometrical analysis of pardons in Spain","authors":"J. Jiménez, J. Abreu","doi":"10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.1.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7866/HPE-RPE.16.1.4","url":null,"abstract":"The pardon is a legal, although controversial, instrument with a long history that persists in many different judicial systems across the world. The juridical literature often considers it to be a perversion in the separation of powers within the State, and the motivations behind it are always under scrutiny. In this paper we seek to establish whether there are specific factors that affect and determine pardons. Using a database of all pardons granted in Spain between 1995 and 2013, including our own elaborated individual data, the econometrical estimations produce the following conclusions: firstly, Spain’s right-wing political party processes pardons faster than that of the left; secondly, and due to public concern, pardons are less frequent near elections; and thirdly, the higher the fine, the faster the pardon. These results show that the pardon is used in a discretionary way and in most cases greatly distorts the separation of powers that should provide the basis of any healthy democratic system.","PeriodicalId":48669,"journal":{"name":"Hacienda Publica Espanola-Review of Public Economics","volume":"216 1","pages":"81-102"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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