The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia

This paper describes the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty, and examines recent policy changes and whether there is room for an increased role for fiscal policy in improving the well-being of the poor. Taxes and social spending redu...

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Main Authors: Inchauste, Gabriela, Rubil, Ivica
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/605341506024423991/The-distributional-impact-of-taxes-and-social-spending-in-Croatia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28448
id okr-10986-28448
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-284482021-06-08T14:42:45Z The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia Inchauste, Gabriela Rubil, Ivica FISCAL POLICY FISCAL INCIDENCE SOCIAL SPENDING INEQUALITY POVERTY TAXATION This paper describes the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty, and examines recent policy changes and whether there is room for an increased role for fiscal policy in improving the well-being of the poor. Taxes and social spending reduced inequality in Croatia; however, once the impacts of indirect taxes are considered, the system is unable to reduce poverty, especially for families with children and retirees. Beginning in the second decile, households are net payers to the treasury, as the share of taxes paid exceeded the cash benefits received for all but the poorest 10 percent of the population. Microsimulations of recent tax changes find that inequality after taxes and transfers is expected to increase slightly in 2017, as most of the benefits of the reform were concentrated at the top of the distribution. Although the impact of lower value-added taxes on electricity and utility bills is expected to be slightly poverty reducing, this effect is small relative to the relief that is needed. A reduction in the standard value-added tax rate from 25 to 24 percent would result in a small decline in poverty and inequality. However, the impact may be much smaller, depending on how this measure would be financed. 2017-10-05T16:34:27Z 2017-10-05T16:34:27Z 2017-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/605341506024423991/The-distributional-impact-of-taxes-and-social-spending-in-Croatia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28448 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8203 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Europe and Central Asia Croatia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic FISCAL POLICY
FISCAL INCIDENCE
SOCIAL SPENDING
INEQUALITY
POVERTY
TAXATION
spellingShingle FISCAL POLICY
FISCAL INCIDENCE
SOCIAL SPENDING
INEQUALITY
POVERTY
TAXATION
Inchauste, Gabriela
Rubil, Ivica
The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Croatia
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8203
description This paper describes the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty, and examines recent policy changes and whether there is room for an increased role for fiscal policy in improving the well-being of the poor. Taxes and social spending reduced inequality in Croatia; however, once the impacts of indirect taxes are considered, the system is unable to reduce poverty, especially for families with children and retirees. Beginning in the second decile, households are net payers to the treasury, as the share of taxes paid exceeded the cash benefits received for all but the poorest 10 percent of the population. Microsimulations of recent tax changes find that inequality after taxes and transfers is expected to increase slightly in 2017, as most of the benefits of the reform were concentrated at the top of the distribution. Although the impact of lower value-added taxes on electricity and utility bills is expected to be slightly poverty reducing, this effect is small relative to the relief that is needed. A reduction in the standard value-added tax rate from 25 to 24 percent would result in a small decline in poverty and inequality. However, the impact may be much smaller, depending on how this measure would be financed.
format Working Paper
author Inchauste, Gabriela
Rubil, Ivica
author_facet Inchauste, Gabriela
Rubil, Ivica
author_sort Inchauste, Gabriela
title The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
title_short The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
title_full The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
title_fullStr The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
title_full_unstemmed The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Social Spending in Croatia
title_sort distributional impact of taxes and social spending in croatia
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/605341506024423991/The-distributional-impact-of-taxes-and-social-spending-in-Croatia
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28448
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