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Progressive tax reforms in flat tax countries

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Abstract
Much of the literature on flat tax reforms has highlighted the benefits of introducing flat personal income tax systems in transition economies. The advocated benefits of flat tax systems range from their simplicity, higher compliance and lower distortionary effects on growth and employment. These arguments have often been cited to support policy recommendations favouring the adoption of flat tax systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the 1990s and the 2000s. However since income inequality is notoriously high in these countries, the question of introducing some progressivity in the tax system has come to the fore in both policy and academic circles. In this paper, we analyse the fiscal, redistributive and macroeconomic impact of (re-) introducing progressivity in a number of CEE countries with flat tax systems. Combining microsimulation and macro models, we find that a significant reduction in income inequality can be achieved by moving from a flat to a progressive tax system with positive, albeit negligible, macroeconomic and employment impact. The magnitude of these effects depends on country-specificities and tax system characteristics, due in particular to the existence of tax allowances and tax credits.

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  • Salvador Barrios & Viginta Ivaskaite-Tamosiune & Anamaria Maftei & Edlira Narazani & Janos Varga, 2018. "Progressive tax reforms in flat tax countries," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2018-02, Joint Research Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipt:taxref:201802
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    Cited by:

    1. Aurelija Anciūtė & Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė & Anamaria Maftei & Janos Varga, 2020. "Labour Tax and Child Benefits Reform in Lithuania: For Better or Worse?," European Economy - Economic Briefs 059, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    2. Konstantins Benkovskis & Ludmila Fadejeva & Anna Pluta & Anna Zasova, 2023. "Keeping the best of two worlds: Linking CGE and microsimulation models for policy analysis," Working Papers 2023/01, Latvijas Banka.
    3. Cerniauskas Nerijus & Jousten Alain, 2021. "Statutory, effective, and optimal net tax schedules in Lithuania," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-33, May.
    4. Loredana Andreea Cristea & Alina Daniela Vodă & Dragoș Mihai Ungureanu, 2020. "The Characterization of the Taxation Process in Terms of Tax Culture, as an Element of Novelty," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(2), pages 863-870, December.
    5. Fernández-Bastidas, Rocío, 2023. "Entrepreneurship and tax evasion," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Elena Smirnova & Igor Okhrimenko & Aleksandra Zakharova, 2024. "Review of Best Practices in Self-Employment Taxation," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 299-314, March.
    7. European Commission, 2018. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2018 Survey," Taxation Survey 2018, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    8. repec:fst:rfsisf:v:7:y:2022:i:13:p:132-145 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Claudio Socci & Silvia D’Andrea & Stefano Deriu & Rosita Pretaroli & Francesca Severini, 2022. "Does the Personal Income Flat Tax fit with Economic Growth and Inequality in Italy?," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 8(3), pages 523-548, November.
    10. Salvador Barrios, 2020. "Taxation and growth: Why does it matter and how can it be analysed?," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 42(4), pages 366-384, December.
    11. D.E. Lapov & I.A. Mayburov, 2020. "Possibilities of Accounting for the Real Tax Burden When Modeling the Scale of Income Taxation," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 19(2), pages 129-148.
    12. Roeger, Werner & Varga, Janos & Veld, Jan in 't & Vogel, Lukas, 2021. "The distributional impact of labour market reforms: A model-based assessment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    13. Abuselidze, George, 2020. "Optimality of tax policy on the basis of comparative analysis of income taxation," MPRA Paper 104591, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Flat tax; microsimulation model; DSGE model; inequality progressivity; employment; growth;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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