IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ekd/002625/3412.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of past and new VAT reforms in Finland

Author

Listed:
  • Jouko Kinnunen
  • Timo Rauhanen
  • Juha Honkatukia

Abstract

We study the effects of recent VAT reforms in Finland. Our counterfactual scenarios try to find, whether other reforms would enhance economic efficiency without compromising equity. We use a recursive dynamic applied GE model (VATTAGE, coded in GEMPACK) to study the macro, industrial and distributional effects of VAT reforms. We discuss different ways of modeling labor market issues We show that counterfactual reforms abolishing different VAT reforms in favor of one, general VAT rate fares better than the current differential VAT rate system. However, we show that it is not always the case that decreasing income taxation boosts growth when VAT rate is rased simultaneously in a revenue-neutral manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Jouko Kinnunen & Timo Rauhanen & Juha Honkatukia, 2011. "Effects of past and new VAT reforms in Finland," EcoMod2011 3412, EcoMod.
    • Handle: RePEc:ekd:002625:3412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ecomod.net/system/files/Kinnunen_Honkatukia_Rauhanen_2011-04-19.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Honkatukia, Juha, 2009. "VATTAGE - A dynamic, applied general equilibrium model of the Finnish economy," Research Reports 150, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Honkatukia, Juha & Marttila, Kimmo & Kinnunen, Jouko, 2009. "Distributional effects of Finland's climate policy package - Calculations with the new income distribution module of the VATTAGE model," Working Papers 11, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Alho, Kari, 2002. "The Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment and Policies to Lower It: The Case of Finland," Discussion Papers 839, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    4. Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen & Kreiner, Claus Thustrup, 2006. "The marginal cost of public funds: Hours of work versus labor force participation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1955-1973, November.
    5. Kosonen, Tuomas, 2010. "What was actually cut in the barbers' VAT cut?," Working Papers 18, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Clément Carbonnier, 2005. "Is Tax Shifting Asymmetric? Evidence from French VAT reforms, 1995-2000," Working Papers halshs-00590719, HAL.
    7. W. J. Corlett & D. C. Hague, 1953. "Complementarity and the Excess Burden of Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 21(1), pages 21-30.
    8. K.Mc Morrow & W. Roeger, 2000. "Time-varying Nairu/Nawru estimates for the EU Member States," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 145, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    9. Charles L. Ballard & John Karl Scholz & John B. Shoven, 1987. "The Value-Added Tax: A General Equilibrium Look at Its Efficiency and Incidence," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation, pages 445-480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luksic, Jan, 2020. "The extensive macro labor supply elasticity: Integrating taxes and expenditures," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Jing Xing, 2011. "Does tax structure affect economic growth? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Working Papers 1120, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    3. Vidar Christiansen & Stephen Smith, 2012. "Externality‐Correcting Taxes and Regulation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 358-383, June.
    4. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    5. Hummel, Albert Jan & Ziesemer, Vinzenz, 2023. "Food subsidies in general equilibrium," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    6. Aart Gerritsen & Bas Jacobs & Kevin Spiritus & Alexandra V Rusu, 2025. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income with Heterogeneous Rates of Return," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(665), pages 180-211.
    7. Louis Kaplow, 2011. "An Optimal Tax System," NBER Working Papers 17214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Henrik Jordahl & Luca Micheletto, 2005. "Optimal Utilitarian Taxation and Horizontal Equity," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(4), pages 681-708, October.
    9. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Pareto efficient taxation and expenditures: Pre- and re-distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 101-119.
    10. Langenmayr Dominika & Mittermaier Ferdinand, 2021. "Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften, nachhaltig finanziert: Herausforderungen für die Politik in den 2020er Jahren," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 22(3), pages 176-190, September.
    11. Papageorgiou, Yorgos Y. & Pines, David, 2000. "Externalities, Indivisibility, Nonreplicability, and Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 509-535, November.
    12. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hines, James Jr., 2002. "Taxation and economic efficiency," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 21, pages 1347-1421, Elsevier.
    13. Spencer Bastani & Sebastian Koehne, 2024. "How Should Consumption Be Taxed?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 80(3), pages 259-302.
    14. Bas (B.) Jacobs & Rick (F.) van der Ploeg, 2017. "Should Pollution Taxes Be Targeted At Income Redistribution?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-070/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. Sijbren Cnossen, 2020. "Excise Taxation for Domestic Resource Mobilization," CESifo Working Paper Series 8442, CESifo.
    16. Johann K. Brunner & Susanne Pech, 2012. "Optimal Taxation of Bequests in a Model with Initial Wealth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(4), pages 1368-1392, December.
    17. Harju Jarkko, 2014. "Policy evaluation methods in tax research – new evidence and interpretations," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2014(1), pages 76-92, May.
    18. Jussila, Mira & Tamminen, Saara & Kinnunen, Jouko, 2012. "The estimation of LES demand elasticities for CGE models," Working Papers 39, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.
    20. Hellwig, Christian & Werquin, Nicolas, 2022. "Using Consumption Data to Derive Optimal Income and Capital Tax Rates," TSE Working Papers 22-1284, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jul 2024.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ekd:002625:3412. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Theresa Leary (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecomoea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.