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Effective Tax Rates and Effective Progressivity in a Fiscally Decentralized Country

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Abstract

This paper proposes measures to quantify the effective level and the effective progressivity of taxation in a fiscally decentralized country taking income sorting into account. Using data on the universe of Swiss taxpayers, we find that rich households effectively face significantly lower average and marginal tax rates and lower progressivity than in the benchmark case that does not consider income sorting. This is because high-income households systematically avoid high taxation by locating in low-tax jurisdictions. The results are stronger for singles than for families, indicating that singles are more sensitive to spatial tax differentials than families. Although income tax schedules of the Swiss federation, the 26 cantons and the more than 2,600 municipalities are all strictly progressive, the effectively paid country-wide average tax rate is regressive for households with very high incomes and without children. The proposed measure of the effective average and marginal tax rates also allows us to adequately describe the evolution of the country-wide tax burden over time. We document that about half of the reduction in the tax burden on top incomes between 1975 and 2009 is due to reductions in statutory tax rates and about half to stronger income sorting of the population. Our results also hold when we account for the disutility from housing prices into which tax rates capitalize.

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  • Roller, Marcus, 2016. "Effective Tax Rates and Effective Progressivity in a Fiscally Decentralized Country," CEPR Discussion Papers 11152, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11152
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    2. Kuhlmey, Florian, 2017. "Local income tax competition with progressive taxes and a fiscal equalization scheme," Working papers 2017/17, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    3. Simon B chler, Maximilian v. Ehrlich, 2021. "Quantifying Land Use Regulation and its Determinants - Ease of Residential Development across Swiss Municipalities," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper32, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    4. Hans Pitlik & Christina Seyfried, 2016. "Steuerautonomie der Schweizer Kantone: Vorbild für Österreich?," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 89(6), pages 423-435, June.
    5. Frey, Christian & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2016. "Progressive taxes and top income shares: A historical perspective on pre- and post-tax income concentration in Switzerland," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 5-9.
    6. Matthias Krapf & David Staubli, 2020. "The Corporate Elasticity of Taxable Income: Event Study Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 8715, CESifo.
    7. David Gallusser & Matthias Krapf, 2022. "Joint Income-Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Lucerne Tax Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 251-295, August.
    8. Marko Köthenbürger & Costanza Naguib & Christian Stettler & Michael Stimmelmayr, 2023. "Income Taxes and the Mobility of the Rich: Evidence from US and UK Households in Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 10376, CESifo.
    9. Martinez, Isabel Z., 2016. "Beggar-Thy-Neighbour Tax Cuts: Mobility after a Local Income and Wealth Tax Reform in Switzerland," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145643, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Michael Graff, 2019. "Steuerwettbewerb und sozialräumliche Segregation," KOF Analysen, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, vol. 13(4), pages 37-49, December.
    11. David Staubli, 2018. "The Elasticity of Corporate Income: Panel Data Evidence from Switzerland," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 18.01, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    12. Kurt Schmidheiny, 2017. "Emerging Lessons from Half a Century of Fiscal Federalism in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 153(2), pages 73-101, April.
    13. Feld, Lars P. & Frey, Christian & Schaltegger, Christoph A. & Schmid, Lukas A., 2021. "Fiscal federalism and income inequality: An empirical analysis for Switzerland," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 463-494.
    14. Simon Berset & Mark Schelker, 2023. "Decentralization and Progressive Taxation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 51(2), pages 206-235, March.
    15. Foellmi, Reto & Martinez, Isabel Z., 2017. "Die Verteilung von Einkommen und Vermögen in der Schweiz [The Distribution of Income and Wealth in Switzerland]," MPRA Paper 84443, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Marcus Roller, 2022. "Pre-Crisis Determinants of Tourism Resilience," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper39, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    17. Florian Kuhlmey, 2022. "Tiebout sorting with progressive income taxation and a fiscal equalization scheme," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 158(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Martínez, Isabel Z., 2022. "Mobility responses to the establishment of a residential tax haven: Evidence from Switzerland," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    19. Schmidheiny, Kurt & Slotwinski, Michaela, 2018. "Tax-induced mobility: Evidence from a foreigners' tax scheme in Switzerland," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 293-324.
    20. Enea Baselgia & Isabel Z. Martínez, 2022. "Wealth-Income Ratios in Free Market Capitalism: Switzerland, 1900-2020," CESifo Working Paper Series 9976, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Progressive taxation; Fiscal decentralization; Income segregation; Effective tax rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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