Regressive Form Of Taxation Research Articles

Contracts-for-Difference: An assessment of social equity considerations in the renewable energy transition

This research advances knowledge regarding social equity as it relates to electricity network charges, renewable investments, and household income. While much research has examined social equity issues related to electricity access, research has yet to fully explore how different network tariff designs used to recover the cost of renewable energy investments, such as those related to ‘Contracts-for-Difference’ (CfDs), impact low-income individuals. We accordingly examine CfDs in more detail, assessing if regressive effects emerge from levying CfD cost recovery via network charges. By analysing energy use and network design charges in Australia, we find that CfDs are a regressive form of taxation used by state governments to fund renewable energy commitments. We illustrate the impact that CfDs have on different energy users and provide recommendations to reform renewable energy policies to provide greater social equity.

Jackpot rollover and lottery regressivity

have found the lottery to be a regressive form of taxation that varies by game and whose regressivity declines at higher jackpot size. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the effect of consumer spending on lottery regressivity during the Mega Millions rollover sequence and reports the following findings. First, regressivity among six games examined in the paper varies by game and is inversely related to the prize/jackpot size of the game. Second, an increase in the jackpot size reduces the regressivity for the Mega Millions game, but not for the other five games. Third, the impact of household income distribution on lottery sales varies by game, and in the case of Mega Millions, by jackpot size as well. We did not find a significant difference in the demand for the Mega Millions game between below middle-income households and high-income households. However, the demand by middle and upper-middle income households is significantly higher than the demand by high-income households, especially at a higher jackpot size. Lastly, as the jackpot size grows over $100 million and higher, a large cash inflow from states with no Mega Millions flows into the New Jersey lottery market. The majority of the additional cash inflow is spent on the Mega Millions game and there does not appear to be a significant spillover to other New Jersey lottery games.

Does Regressive Taxation without Democratic Accountability Contribute to Human Development? The Effect of Recent Trends in State Revenue Production in Developing Countries

State revenue production since the third wave of democratization contrasts sharply with the experiences of the first and second waves of democratization. The later democratizers tend to adopt and raise revenue from a regressive tax on consumption (the value-added tax: VAT), which is more compatible with economic development in global markets. How does the weak redistributive effect of this form of taxation affect the welfare of people? Previous studies argue that democratic accountability through multiparty contestation improves human development. Focused on taxation, we argue that an increasing state financial capacity contributes to an increase in human development even without electoral contestation. Empirical analyses specifically examine the effect of the VAT on infant mortality. The results demonstrate that although state revenue production relies on a regressive form of taxation, taxation contributes to human development in countries with less democratic accountability. The state's capacity to gain tax compliance intervenes critically in such development. Moreover, the increasing capacity to finance the state goes hand-in-hand with democratization and thus further promotes human development in newly emerging democratic states.

Financing universal health coverage—effects of alternative tax structures on public health systems: cross-national modelling in 89 low-income and middle-income countries

SummaryBackgroundHow to finance progress towards universal health coverage in low-income and middle-income countries is a subject of intense debate. We investigated how alternative tax systems affect the breadth, depth, and height of health system coverage.MethodsWe used cross-national longitudinal fixed effects models to assess the relationships between total and different types of tax revenue, health system coverage, and associated child and maternal health outcomes in 89 low-income and middle-income countries from 1995–2011.FindingsTax revenue was a major statistical determinant of progress towards universal health coverage. Each US$100 per capita per year of additional tax revenues corresponded to a yearly increase in government health spending of $9·86 (95% CI 3·92–15·8), adjusted for GDP per capita. This association was strong for taxes on capital gains, profits, and income ($16·7, 9·16 to 24·3), but not for consumption taxes on goods and services (−$4·37, −12·9 to 4·11). In countries with low tax revenues (<$1000 per capita per year), an additional $100 tax revenue per year substantially increased the proportion of births with a skilled attendant present by 6·74 percentage points (95% CI 0·87–12·6) and the extent of financial coverage by 11·4 percentage points (5·51–17·2). Consumption taxes, a more regressive form of taxation that might reduce the ability of the poor to afford essential goods, were associated with increased rates of post-neonatal mortality, infant mortality, and under-5 mortality rates. We did not detect these adverse associations with taxes on capital gains, profits, and income, which tend to be more progressive.InterpretationIncreasing domestic tax revenues is integral to achieving universal health coverage, particularly in countries with low tax bases. Pro-poor taxes on profits and capital gains seem to support expanding health coverage without the adverse associations with health outcomes observed for higher consumption taxes. Progressive tax policies within a pro-poor framework might accelerate progress toward achieving major international health goals.FundingCommission of the European Communities (FP7–DEMETRIQ), the European Union's HRES grants, and the Wellcome Trust.

Retrospective modeling of the merit-order effect on wholesale electricity prices from distributed photovoltaic generation in the Australian National Electricity Market

In electricity markets that use a merit order dispatch system, generation capacity is ranked by the price that it is bid into the market. Demand is then met by dispatching electricity according to this rank, from the lowest to the highest bid. The last capacity dispatched sets the price received by all generation, ensuring the lowest cost provision of electricity. A consequence of this system is that significant deployments of low marginal cost electricity generators, including renewables, can reduce the spot price of electricity. In Australia, this prospect has been recognized in concern expressed by some coal-fired generators that delivering too much renewable generation would reduce wholesale electricity prices. In this analysis we calculate the likely reduction of wholesale prices through this merit order effect on the Australian National Electricity Market. We calculate that for 5GW of capacity, comparable to the present per capita installation of photovoltaics in Germany, the reduction in wholesale prices would have been worth in excess of A$1.8 billion over 2009 and 2010, all other factors being equal. We explore the implications of our findings for feed-in tariff policies, and find that they could deliver savings to consumers, contrary to prevailing criticisms that they are a regressive form of taxation.

Queensland Solar Feed-In Tariffs and the Merit-Order Effect: Economic Benefit, or Regressive Taxation and Wealth Transfers?

Premium residential solar feed-in tariffs have come under considerable scrutiny in Australia over the past 12 months following a sharp rise in the uptake of subsidised PV units and subsidy cost blow-outs. Using New South Wales data, Nelson, Simshauser and Kelley (2011) demonstrated that the inherent design of premium ‘gross’ feed-in tariffs are regressive in nature and required reform. Since the publication of that article in Economic Analysis & Policy (September 2011 edition), feed-in tariff policies have been substantially wound back in all Australian jurisdictions except Queensland. In this article, we examine the ‘net’ feed-in tariff in Queensland and similarly find it to be a regressive form of taxation. We also examine the so-called ‘merit order effect’ – a purported ‘economic benefit’ arising from premium feed-in tariffs. However, the evidence is clear that merit order effects must, by definition, be transient and above all, are not welfare enhancing.

Australian Residential Solar Feed-in Tariffs: Industry Stimulus or Regressive form of Taxation?

Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) for residential photovoltaic solar technologies are available in most Australian jurisdictions. Financial incentives under FiT are in addition to those provided by the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme which forms part of the national 20% Renewable Energy Target. Little attention has been paid to the welfare impacts of FiT on retail electricity prices and social policy objectives. Our analysis indicates that current FiT are a regressive form of taxation. By providing estimates of household impact by income groupings, we conclude that wealthier households are beneficiaries and the effective taxation rate for low income households is three times higher than that paid by the wealthiest households.

The neoliberal project—Local taxation intervention in Scotland

This paper is concerned with one of the central economic aspects of neoliberalism namely taxation. The shifting of the burden of taxation from the rich to the poor has been one of the raft of neoliberal economic reform policies. However, there has been a growing social movement in the UK against such a regressive form of taxation. This was led by a socialist political party in Scotland. 1 1 The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). Up until the last Scottish General Election in 2007 the SSP had 6 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), but due to an internal split the SSP lost all its seats in the Scottish Parliament. However, many of the key elements outlined in the Scottish Service Tax (SST) Bill, proposed by the SSP, were included in the Scottish Nationalist Party's (SNP) Bill put before the Scottish Parliament in 2008 to replace the regressive Council Tax. This party devised a new taxation system which was specifically designed to reverse some of the economic inequalities brought about by the neoliberal turn. The new form of taxation, the Scottish Service Tax formed a bill (the Council Tax Abolition and Service Tax Introduction (Scotland) Bill) which was put before the Scottish Parliament in February 2006. This paper, taking a political-economy perspective, sets the possibilities presented by the bill within the context of neoliberalism.

The Inequality of Fair Play: Lottery Gambling and Social Stratification in Germany

On the basis of a telephone survey conducted on a random sample of the German residential population, we examine the distribution effects state lotteries have on Germany’s social structure. Lotteries are highly taxed economic transactions, whose proceeds make up a considerable share of public fiscal revenues. Our analysis shows that lotteries are a form of regressive taxation. Using key demographic indicators, such as age, citizenship, and levels of income and education, we demonstrate the effects of fiscal redistribution.

Mobilising public opinion for the tobacco industry: the consumer tax alliance and excise taxes

Background:Tobacco industry funding was instrumental in creating and financing the Consumer Tax Alliance in 1989 as an organisation that relied upon extensive media outreach to build opposition to excise taxes...

Betting Against Youth

This article contends that youth gambling is a formidable social problem that draws on those who can least afford it, is partly derived from a general disempowerment from society, and as a consequence, is connected with risk-taking behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse. To explore further the complex nature of youth gambling and its relation to social disadvantage, the empirical analysis incorporates comparisons between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth and between male and female youth. The conclusions suggest that youth gambling is a form of regressive taxation that exploits those who are most vulnerable because of their socioeconomic marginality and their feelings of relative powerlessness.