IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wfo/wpaper/y2018i561.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A European Net Wealth Tax

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Krenek

    (WIFO)

  • Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger

Abstract

The increase of wealth inequality in many EU countries has spurred interest in wealth taxation. While taxes on wealth for a long time have played only a marginal role in the public finance and taxation literature, more recently a variety of arguments are brought forward in favour of (higher) wealth taxation. At the same time, tax competition has led to an almost complete disappearance of recurrent net wealth taxes in Europe. By dealing with non- and under-reporting in the Household and Consumption Survey (HFCS) data set provided by the European Central Bank, we are able to estimate the wealth distribution within 20 EU countries and the revenue potential of a progressive EU-wide net wealth tax.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Krenek & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2018. "A European Net Wealth Tax," WIFO Working Papers 561, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/61040
    File Function: abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ces:ifodic:v:2:y:2004:i:3:p:14567754 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Annette Alstadsæter & Niels Johannesen & Gabriel Zucman, 2019. "Tax Evasion and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 2073-2103, June.
    3. Bagchi, Sutirtha & Svejnar, Jan, 2015. "Does wealth inequality matter for growth? The effect of billionaire wealth, income distribution, and poverty," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 505-530.
    4. Donatella Baiardi & Paola Profeta & Riccardo Puglisi & Simona Scabrosetti, 2019. "Tax policy and economic growth: does it really matter?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 282-316, April.
    5. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Margit Schratzenstaller, 2004. "Towards Dual Income Taxes - a Country Comparative Perspective," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(3), pages 23-30, October.
    7. Piketty, Thomas & Zucman, Gabriel, 2014. "Wealth and Inheritance in the Long Run," CEPR Discussion Papers 10072, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Saez, Emmanuel & Stantcheva, Stefanie, 2018. "A simpler theory of optimal capital taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 120-142.
    9. Marius Brülhart & Jonathan Gruber & Matthias Krapf & Kurt Schmidheiny, 2016. "Taxing Wealth: Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 5966, CESifo.
    10. Brülhart, Marius & Parchet, Raphaël, 2014. "Alleged tax competition: The mysterious death of bequest taxes in Switzerland," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 63-78.
    11. Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty, 2010. "Top Incomes : A Global Perspective," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00754875, HAL.
    12. European Commission, 2012. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2012 edition," Taxation trends 2012, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    13. Bach, Stefan & Thiemann, Andreas & Zucco, Aline, 2019. "Looking for the missing rich: tracing the top tail of the wealth distribution," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(6), pages 1234-1258.
    14. Sandford, Cedric & Morrissey, Oliver, 1985. "The Irish Wealth Tax: A Case Study in Economics and Politics," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS123.
    15. Serena Fatica & Doris Prammer, 2018. "Housing and the Tax System: How Large Are the Distortions in the Euro Area?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(2), pages 299-342, June.
    16. Philip Vermeulen, 2016. "Estimating the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 646-650, May.
    17. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies (ed.), 2010. "Dimensions of Tax Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553754.
    18. Xing, Jing, 2012. "Tax structure and growth: How robust is the empirical evidence?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 379-382.
    19. Facundo Alvaredo & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Lucas Chancel & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "World Inequality Report 2018," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01885458, HAL.
    20. International Monetary Fund, 2011. "Iceland: Advancing Tax Reform and the Taxation of Natural Resources," IMF Staff Country Reports 2011/138, International Monetary Fund.
    21. Anthony John Evans & Paul Dragos Aligica, 2008. "The Spread of the Flat Tax in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Study," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 49-67, May.
    22. Messere, Ken & de Kam, Flip & Heady, Christopher, 2003. "Tax Policy: Theory and Practice in OECD Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199241484.
    23. Helmuth Cremer & Pierre Pestieau, 2011. "Wealth and Wealth Transfer Taxation: A Survey," Chapters, in: Emilio Albi & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Elgar Guide to Tax Systems, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. Anna Iara, 2015. "Wealth distribution and taxation in EU Members," Taxation Papers 60, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    25. Piketty, Thomas & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "A Theory of Optimal Capital Taxation," CEPR Discussion Papers 8946, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    26. Philip Vermeulen, 2018. "How Fat is the Top Tail of the Wealth Distribution?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 357-387, June.
    27. Sarah Kuypers & Francesco Figari & Gerlinde Verbist, 2018. "Redistribution in a joint income-wealth perspective: a cross-country comparison," Working Papers 1805, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    28. Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "Taxing across Borders: Tracking Personal Wealth and Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 121-148, Fall.
    29. 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.
    30. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    31. Jens Matthias Arnold & Bert Brys & Christopher Heady & Åsa Johansson & Cyrille Schwellnus & Laura Vartia, 2011. "Tax Policy for Economic Recovery and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(550), pages 59-80, February.
    32. Niels Johannesen & Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "The End of Bank Secrecy? An Evaluation of the G20 Tax Haven Crackdown," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 65-91, February.
    33. Atkinson, Anthony B., 2015. "Inequality: what can be done?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101810, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    34. Stefanie Stantcheva & Emmanuel Saez, 2016. "A simpler theory of capital taxation," 2016 Meeting Papers 503, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    35. Federico Cingano, 2014. "Trends in Income Inequality and its Impact on Economic Growth," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 163, OECD Publishing.
    36. Peter Diamond & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "The Case for a Progressive Tax: From Basic Research to Policy Recommendations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 165-190, Fall.
    37. Mr. Santiago Acosta Ormaechea, 2012. "Tax Composition and Growth: A Broad Cross-Country Perspective," IMF Working Papers 2012/257, International Monetary Fund.
    38. European Commission, 2013. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2013 edition," Taxation trends 2013, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    39. Paul Eckerstorfer & Johannes Halak & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz & Florian Springholz & Rafael Wildauer, 2016. "Correcting for the Missing Rich: An Application to Wealth Survey Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(4), pages 605-627, December.
    40. David Seim, 2017. "Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxes: Evidence from Sweden," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 395-421, November.
    41. Philip R. Lane & Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, 2011. "Cross-Border Investment in Small International Financial Centres," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 301-330, June.
    42. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    43. Conway, Karen Smith & Rork, Jonathan C., 2006. "State "Death" Taxes and Elderly Migration—the Chicken or the Egg?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 59(1), pages 97-128, March.
    44. Shafik Hebous, 2014. "Money at the Docks of Tax Havens: A Guide," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 70(3), pages 458-485, September.
    45. Margit Schratzenstaller, 2004. "Towards Dual Income Taxes - a Country Comparative Perspective," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(03), pages 23-30, October.
    46. Henrekson Magnus & Rietz Gunnar Du, 2014. "The Rise and Fall of Swedish Wealth Taxation," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2014(1), pages 9-35, May.
    47. Owens, Jeffrey, 2006. "Fundamental Tax Reform: An International Perspective," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 59(1), pages 131-164, March.
    48. Kaushik Basu & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2016. "Inequality and Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24983.
    49. Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Network, 2013. "The Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey - Results from the first wave," Statistics Paper Series 2, European Central Bank.
    50. Atkinson, A. B. & Piketty, Thomas (ed.), 2010. "Top Incomes: A Global Perspective," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286898.
    51. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2010. "Economics of estate taxation: a brief review of theory and evidence," NBER Working Papers 15741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    52. Bert Brys & Sarah Perret & Alastair Thomas & Pierce O’Reilly, 2016. "Tax Design for Inclusive Economic Growth," OECD Taxation Working Papers 26, OECD Publishing.
    53. Michael Förster & Ana Llena-Nozal & Vahé Nafilyan, 2014. "Trends in Top Incomes and their Taxation in OECD Countries," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 159, OECD Publishing.
    54. Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Andrew Berg & Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2014. "Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2014/002, International Monetary Fund.
    55. Emilio Albi & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), 2011. "The Elgar Guide to Tax Systems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14436.
    56. Jonathan David Ostry & Andrew Berg & Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2014. "Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 14/02, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tippet, Benjamin & Wildauer, Rafael & Onaran, Özlem, 2021. "The case for a progressive annual wealth tax in the UK," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 33819, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    2. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2021. "Taxing Our Wealth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 207-230, Winter.
    3. Thor O Thoresen & Marius A K Ring & Odd E Nygård & Jon Epland, 2022. "A Wealth Tax at Work [Behavioural Responses to a Wealth Tax]," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 68(4), pages 321-361.
    4. Kapeller, Jakob & Leitch, Stuart & Wildauer, Rafael, 2023. "Can a European wealth tax close the green investment gap?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. Atanas Pekanov & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2019. "A Global Financial Transaction Tax. Theory, Practice and Potential Revenues," WIFO Working Papers 582, WIFO.
    6. Apostel, Arthur & O'Neill, Daniel W., 2022. "A one-off wealth tax for Belgium: Revenue potential, distributional impact, and environmental effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    7. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger, 2017. "The Next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), its Structure and the Own Resources," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60722.

    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. Krenek Alexander & Schratzenstaller Margit, 2022. "A Harmonized Net Wealth Tax in the European Union," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 629-668, December.
    2. Waldenstrom, Daniel & Bastani, Spencer, 2018. "How Should Capital Be Taxed? Theory and Evidence from Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 12880, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "How Should Capital Be Taxed?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 812-846, September.
    4. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "How should capital be taxed? The Swedish experience," Working Papers hal-02878153, HAL.
    5. Alexander Krenek & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Klaus Grünberger & Andreas Thiemann, 2021. "INTAXMOD – Inheritance and Gift Taxation in the Context of Ageing," WIFO Working Papers 645, WIFO.
    6. Katrine Jakobsen & Kristian Jakobsen & Henrik Kleven & Gabriel Zucman, 2020. "Wealth Taxation and Wealth Accumulation: Theory and Evidence From Denmark," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 329-388.
    7. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2021. "Taxing Our Wealth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 207-230, Winter.
    8. Kapeller, Jakob & Leitch, Stuart & Wildauer, Rafael, 2023. "Can a European wealth tax close the green investment gap?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    9. Sarah Kuypers & Francesco Figari & Gerlinde Verbist, 2020. "An assessment of wealth taxes in a joint income-wealth perspective," Working Papers 2006, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    10. Elin Halvorsen & Thor O. Thoresen, 2021. "Distributional Effects of a Wealth Tax under Lifetime‐Dynastic Income Concepts," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(1), pages 184-215, January.
    11. 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.
    12. Alena Bachleitner, 2017. "Abolishing the Wealth Tax. A Case Study for Germany," WIFO Working Papers 545, WIFO.
    13. Sarah Perret, 2021. "Why were most wealth taxes abandoned and is this time different?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 539-563, September.
    14. Figari, Francesco & Kuypers, Sarah & Verbist, Gerlinde, 2020. "An Assessment of Wealth Taxes in a Joint Income-Wealth Perspective," EUROMOD Working Papers EM17/20, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    15. Stefan Bach, 2016. "Erbschaftsteuer, Vermögensteuer oder Kapitaleinkommensteuer: Wie sollen hohe Vermögen stärker besteuert werden?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1619, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    16. Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2019. "Progressive Wealth Taxation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(2 (Fall)), pages 437-533.
    17. European Commission, 2018. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2018 Survey," Taxation Survey 2018, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    18. Thomas Blanchet, 2022. "Uncovering the Dynamics of the Wealth Distribution," Working Papers hal-03865295, HAL.
    19. Arun Advani & Hannah Tarrant, 2021. "Behavioural responses to a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 509-537, September.
    20. Max Franks & David Klenert & Anselm Schultes & Kai Lessmann & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2018. "Is capital back? The role of land ownership and savings behavior," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1252-1276, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    F55; H24; H87;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:561. 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: Florian Mayr (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wifooat.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.