Determinants of top personal income tax rates in 19 OECD countries, 1981–2018
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6296129 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bastiaan Van Ganzen (0000-0001-7579-6857, Leiden University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 401-426 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Public Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0143-814X • E-ISSN: 1469-7815 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0143814x23000028 |
| OpenAlex | W4322743817 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 50 |
This article aims to map the political economy of top personal income tax rate setting. A much-discussed driving factor of top rate setting is the corporate tax rate: governments may prefer to limit the differential between both rates in order to prevent tax-friendly saving of labour incomes inside corporations. Recent studies have highlighted several other driving factors, including budgetary pressure, partisan politics, and societal fairness norms. I compare these and other potential determinants in the long run (1981–2018) by studying tax reforms of 226 cabinets in 19 advanced Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries using regression models. I find little evidence for the effects of economic, political, and institutional factors; instead, the main determinant of the top rate is the corporate tax rate. As corporate tax rates are still declining under competitive pressure, the recently set minimum rate of 15% will not stop tax competition from constraining progressive income taxation
Ad valorem tax · Corporate Tax · Double taxation · Economics · Indirect tax · Inflation rate · Interest rate · Labour economics · Monetary economics · Order (exchange · Public economics · State income tax · Tax avoidance · Tax rate · Tax reform · Value-added tax · Corporate Taxation and Avoidance · Finance · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Local Government Finance and Decentralization
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |