The evolution of top incomes in Switzerland over the 20th century

Abstract

Summary We study the income concentration in the Swiss federation over the course of the 20th century using federal income tax statistics. The results suggest that top incomes in Switzerland evolved over time rather remaining constant across different income shares. Income concentration peaked during the 1940s, with a slight downward trend until the 1990s. Over the last 15 years, top incomes have recovered. In contrast, the evolution of income concentration is much more heterogeneous on the sub-federal level for the 26 cantons because of the federalist constitution, which has a decentralized taxing power. Consequently, top incomes in some cantons have a downward trend; others show a fall and rise of top incomes over the century, as exemplified by the Kuznets’ hypothesis; some develop rather constantly; and some cantons even produce a striking upward trend.

The Long Run Effects of Taxes and Tax Competition on top Income Shares: An Empirical Investigation

“…Schaltegger and Gorgas () compile time series for top incomes at the sub‐federal level over the period from 1917 to 2007. They detect a rather heterogeneous picture.…”

“… See Schaltegger and Gorgas () for detailed description of the data about the cantonal income distribution based on tax statistics.…”

Progressive taxes and top income shares: A historical perspective on pre- and post-tax income concentration in Switzerland

“…These data have been widely used to construct time series of top income shares at Switzerland's federal level (Dell et al, 2007;Foellmi and Martínez, forthcoming), as well as at the canton level (Schaltegger and Gorgas, 2011). 2 The income variable provided is gross income.…”

“…2 Our pre-tax income series is based on Schaltegger and Gorgas (2011). We extend the series to 2012 and include so-called special cases ("Sonderfälle") (i.e., high-net-worth immigrants who enjoy special tax treatment).…”

State capture from below? The contradictory effects of decentralisation on public spending

“…To measure the strength of trade unions, we rely once more on data by Schaub and Dlabac (2012) (cf. also Vatter and Freitag 2002, 63) while income data is gathered from federal income tax statistics (Schaltegger and Gorgas 2011). Further details on each variable, its measurement, sources and summary statistics are listed in the Data Annex.…”