Voting on income tax exemptions

Abstract

Income tax reform, Tax exemptions,

Voting over taxes: the case of tax evasion

“…Similar results are discussed in Engström and Holmlund (2006), who find that Swedish households with at least one self-employed member underreport around 35% of their incomes from self-employment. 19 Anecdotal evidence which is in line with these findings is provided by Bergström and Gidehag (2003). They note that "more than half of the hairdressing employers in Sweden have a taxed income that is less than half of what a full-time employed hairdresser earns per annum .…”

“…Beyond the anecdote from Bergström and Gidehag (2003), this pattern is also motivated by the more systematic evidence in Tedds (2008) and Fiorio and D'Amuri (2005), which suggests that evasion is most pronounced for self-employed with rather low income levels. In turn, this could result in a redistributive conflict of low-income self-employed against workers with smaller incomes, where the latter nevertheless vote for lower taxes as they hardly conceal income.…”

“…Compare also Bloomquist (2003), Cox (1984), Fratanduono (1986). 8 In a slightly different approach, Barbaro and Südekum (2009) study voting over tax exemptions. Similar as our analysis, they find that the decisive voter does not necessarily correspond to the median income receiver.…”

“…While this example shows the typical redistribution from the top to the bottom of the income distribution, we also observe an unusual direction of redistribution among the middle class-i.e., from the lower to the upper fraction of taxpayers with intermediate levels of income. In terms of the observation from Bergström and Gidehag (2003), there is redistribution 'from the hairdressers to their employers'.…”

Déficits d'information dans l'élaboration, la mise en oeuvre et le suivi des politiques agricoles.

“…Certains affirment que le principal effet de certaines incitations financières en agriculture est de générer des gains exceptionnels puisque les bénéficiaires auraient décidé d"entreprendre ces activités en l"absence de paiements incitatifs. Cette thèse a été défendue, par exemple, au sujet des aides à l"investissement (Auerbach, 1997), des aides dans le domaine de l"éducation (Barbaro, 2005) et des paiements destinés à inciter les départs en retraite d"agriculteurs (OCDE, 1995a).…”