Taxes, Expenditures and Income Distribution in Switzerland

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2113133
AutoresRobert E Leu, Rene L Frey, Brigitte Buhmann
Ano1985
Volume14
Fascículo3
Páginas341-360
Data de publicação1985-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279400014781
OpenAlexW2102396387
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas10

In this paper, we analyse the impact of government policies on income distribution and poverty in Switzerland. First, we give an overview of the Swiss welfare system and provide an estimate of the poverty problem in this country. Second, we discuss some major problems of fiscal incidence analysis. Third, we examine the impact of taxes and expenditures on income distribution in Switzerland using a budget incidence approach. The analysis is based mainly on the first nationwide representative Income and Wealth Survey 1980 conducted by the authors. The major findings are the following:1 The government budget, including the social security system, has a significant redistributive effect which is due mainly to expenditures rather than to taxation.2 Direct taxes reduce income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient; indirect taxes increase it. The net effect of all taxes is to reduce income inequality.3 The redistributive effect of social welfare expenditures is larger than that of other government expenditures

Demographic economics · Distribution (mathematics) · Economic growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Gini coefficient · Government (linguistics) · Gross income · Income distribution · Inequality · Labour economics · Poverty · Public economics · Social security · State income tax · Tax reform · Welfare · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Income, Poverty, and Inequality