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Lifetime vs Annual Tax‐Transfer Incidence: How Much Less Progressive?
Author(s) -
HARDING ANN
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.1993.tb01812.x
Subject(s) - redistribution (election) , economics , redistribution of income and wealth , cash , labour economics , progressive tax , monetary economics , personal income tax , demographic economics , public economics , gross income , macroeconomics , tax reform , state income tax , political science , politics , law , unemployment
Annual fiscal incidence studies have found that income taxes and cash transfers are highly progressive and that their net effect is to redistribute income from rich to poor. Yet many argue Jhat such studies overstate the redistribution achieved by governments and that lifetime analysis is needed New results suggest that both income taxes and cash transfers are progressive on a lifetime basis, although they are much less progressive than annual studies suggest. The Australian tax‐transfer system thus generates some lifetime redistribution from rich to poor, while also enforcing intra‐personal redistribution across the life cycle of individuals.