Globala trender i skatteprogressivitet

På public choice-konferens i San Antonio, en session med bl a Denvil Duncan. Han har nyss lagt 2 år på att kartlägga skattesystem över hela världen, med fokus på hur progressiva de är.

I korthet: Inkomstskatternas struktur har blivit mindre progressiv sedan 1980. Detta tycks leda till högre inkomstojämlikhet på årsbasis, men effekten på konsumtionsojämlikhet är mindre, möjligen noll.

“Global Reform of Personal Income Taxation, 1981-2005: Evidence from 189 Countries.” (with Klara Sabirianova Peter and Steven Buttrick), National Tax Journal, 2010, 63(3)

In this paper we use a panel of 189 countries to describe the salient trends that have emerged in national personal income tax systems spanning the twenty five year period from 1981 to 2005. … our analysis shows a significant transition from complex, graduated tax schedules that featured multiple tax brackets and stair stepped tax rates to simpler, flatter tax schedules distinguished by fewer tax brackets and lower rates.

Relaterat nummer av Review of Economic Dynamics, med bl a en artikel av David Domeij och Martin Flodén om den svenska utvecklingen:

We document a clear increase in Swedish earnings inequality in the early 1990s, and that much of this increase was generated by movements in and out of the labor market. Inequality in disposable income and earnings net of taxes and transfers also increased, but much less than the increased inequality in pre-government earnings. These different developments are most likely explained by the generous Swedish welfare system. Consistent with these observations, we see no clear trend in consumption inequality

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Alain de Botton om meritokratins vansinne. spola fram 18 minuter.
http://vimeo.com/10601416