Wage Tax Rate Research Articles

Macroeconomic determinants of remittances: evidence from Romania

ABSTRACTGiven the globalization of the labour market and the promotion of free movement for work, young people are looking for employment opportunities from at least two perspectives – professional careers and socio-economic benefits from employment. In developing countries, such as Romania, the labour market is less attractive, which has led to profound, numerical and structural imbalances, due to external mobility for work. Both new generations of graduates and young people aged up to 40 years, decide to work abroad as a more beneficial individual solution, i.e. remittances. The purpose of this paper is to examine the macroeconomic determinants of remittances to Romania, in order to substantiate public policies on diaspora, to adjust employment policy on the national labour market by promoting incentives to create decent, youth-friendly jobs. Using panel data model we selected several variables with potential influence on remittances level. The results demonstrate that traditional influence’s factors as distance, migration routes diaspora concentration or unemployment rate are, at present, less important than wage gap or tax rate at least for developing origin countries.

The Impact of Fiscal Policy on Macroeconomic Variables: New Evidence from a DSGE Model

The purpose of this article is to analyze the macroeconomic impacts of fiscal policy in Iran using a new-Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model. The model takes into account distortionary taxations on wage, dividend, and consumption, while government expenditures are broken down into consumption of goods and services, and investment. The model is calibrated for Iran based on the estimated parameters by Bayesian method. To do so, a data set from 1981 to 2016 is used. The impulse response functions illustrate that an increase in consumption tax rate has a larger impact on the contraction of the economy than wage tax rate whereas the expansionary effects of government investment is much larger than government consumption expenditures.

The Impact of Taxes on Competition for CEOs

This paper contributes to the question of how taxation of corporate profits and wages affects competition among firms for highly skilled human resources such as CEOs. Use of a theoretical model shows that wage taxes can have a substantial impact on the outcome of such a competition if marginal tax rates are different as in an international labor market. Further, the paper shows that increasing the wage tax rate unilaterally can have an ambiguous effect on observed gross compensation levels. However, in a local labor market for CEOs, observed gross fixed salaries should decline in the wage tax rate. Tax effects in a market for CEOs is a particularly interesting topic because recent developments with respect to compensation practices of top-level managers have opened a public debate about the use of instruments for regulating compensation of those managers. Furthermore, many countries around the world use tax incentives in order to facilitate immigration of highly skilled human resources. The investigation follows an analytical economics-based approach by extending an LEN model with elements of competition for scarce human resources and income taxation. It investigates the impact of differential taxation on the competition between two firms for the exclusive service of a unique, highly skilled CEO.

Wage Taxes and Commuters—the Case of Pennsylvania

The primary purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between worker flows and local wage taxes. It is motivated by results of theoretical analysis on asymmetric tax competition for mobile labor. A sample of 176 localities in metropolitan areas of Pennsylvania is examined. The Two Stage Least Squares estimation results show that inter-jurisdictional worker flow has an important effect on the determination of local wage tax rates. On the other hand, effect of wage tax rates on worker flow is not significant, but other factors including population, per capita income and per capita capital stock do have significant effects.

When are the Effects of Fiscal Policy Uncertainty Large?

Using a new-Keynesian model with endogenous capital accumulation, I show that uncertainty about fiscal policy can cause large declines in consumption, investment, and output when the zero lower bound (ZLB) binds, but has modest effects when the monetary authority is not constrained by the ZLB. I study uncertainty about the level of government spending and uncertainty about tax rates on consumption, wages, capital income, and investment. In my model, uncertainty about government spending and the wage tax rate has particularly large effects. I show that the effects of fiscal policy uncertainty are largest when the nominal interest rate is on the cusp of the ZLB and also that delaying fiscal policy uncertainty diminishes its effects only if the resolution of uncertainty occurs after ZLB no longer binds.

When are the Effects of Fiscal Policy Uncertainty Large?

Using a new-Keynesian model with endogenous capital accumulation, I show that uncertainty about fiscal policy can cause large declines in consumption, investment, and output when the zero lower bound (ZLB) binds, but has modest effects when the monetary authority is not constrained by the ZLB. I study uncertainty about the level of government spending and uncertainty about tax rates on consumption, wages, capital income, and investment. In my model, uncertainty about government spending and the wage tax rate has particularly large effects. I show that the effects of fiscal policy uncertainty are largest when the nominal interest rate is on the cusp of the ZLB and also that delaying fiscal policy uncertainty diminishes its effects only if the resolution of uncertainty occurs after ZLB no longer binds.

The effects of labor wage tax reform on the Iran economy: A computable general equilibrium model approach

Government revenue in Iran is highly dependent on the oil sales. Iranian government in order to decrease dependence on oil sales should obtain new income resources by expanding the tax base. Labor wage tax is not considered an important source of government revenue. Thus increasing tax rate on labor wage is necessary for government revenue. This paper attempts to develop and use computable general equilibrium model to examine the economic impacts of increasing labor wage tax in industrial and mining sector on the Iran economy. It contacted three simulations to examine the consequences of possible changes that occur in Iran economy due the increase in labor wage taxes. The policy issues addressed in this paper are 5, 10 and 15% increase in labor wage tax in industry and mining sectors. The increase of the labor wage tax rate may cause Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) and household income to decline from the benchmark level while the government revenue would increase. Also the sectoral effects are discussed in this paper. Key words: Labor wage tax, computable general equilibrium, Social Accounting Matrix.

TRANSITION STRATEGIES IN ENACTING FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM

This paper discusses transition strategies that might be used in moving from an income tax to consumption based business taxes in the form of an R-base cash-fl ow tax, an R+F-base tax, or an ACE (allowance for corporate equity) tax. While these three taxes have attractive neutrality properties, moving from the status quo to a new system often involves a diffi cult trade-off between short-run losses and longrun gains. We consider two alternative ways of spreading the gains and costs of reform more evenly across generations. Defi cit fi nancing of the large revenue loss that occurs immediately after reform allows the smoothing of wage tax rates over time and the elimination or reduction of short-run income losses. Alternatively, a system of delayed deductions requires fi rms to carry forward with interest some of the large deductions that are newly available after the enactment of a major tax reform. In shifting tax revenue from the future to the present, such policies are politically appealing, as they trade somewhat reduced future income gains for improved economic performance immediately after reform.

Outsourcing of Unionized Firms and the Impact of Labor Market Policy Reforms

This paper shows that outsourcing of parts of workforce in unionized firms leads to wage moderation both in the case of strategic and flexible outsourcing. As long as the share of the outsourced workforce is not too large, this wage-moderation effect on domestic employment outweighs the direct substitution effect so that domestic employment increases in unionized firms as outsourcing costs fall. With respect to the impact of labor tax reforms changes in the wage tax rate, the tax exemption and the unemployment benefit payments affect domestic wage setting in the same way as in the absence of outsourcing. Furthermore, increasing the degree of tax progression by keeping the relative tax burden per worker constant continues to be good for employment. However, except for low outsourcing activities, the impact of these policy measures will become smaller as outsourcing costs fall.

OPTIMAL WAGE TAXATION WHEN HUMAN CAPITAL AND EMPLOYMENT ARE ENDOGENOUS

This paper studies how optimal wage tax conclusions from the classic two‐period life cycle model of human capital accumulation are affected by endogenizing the number of taxpaying workers. In the absence of a corrective policy, young individuals underinvest in human capital from a social perspective because tax premiums for transfers to nonworkers are not actuarially adjusted downward for human capital attainment. A combination of wage taxes and wage subsidies can restore proper price signals. Numerical simulations suggest that even modest employment elasticities can be sufficient to substantially impact the magnitudes and even the signs of optimal wage tax rates. (JEL H21, H3, J24)

Pareto-improving bequest taxation

Altruistic parents may transfer resources to their offspring by providing education, and by leaving bequests. We show that in the presence of wage taxation, a small bequest tax may improve efficiency in an overlapping-generations framework with only intended bequests, by enhancing incentives of parents to invest in their children’s education. We also calculate an optimal mix of wage and bequest taxes with alternative parameter combinations. In all cases, the optimal wage tax rate is clearly higher than the optimal bequest tax rate, but the latter is generally positive when the required government revenue in the economy is sufficiently high. If educational investment is partly unobservable for the government, these results qualitatively hold also when allowing for education subsidies.

Tax Effects on the Real Exchange Rate

This study examines the impact of taxes on the real exchange rate through their marginal effects on economic activity. We hypothesize that an increase in the capital interest tax rate leads to real domestic currency depreciation while an increase in wage or consumption tax rates leads to a real domestic currency appreciation. These hypotheses are supported by an empirical study using panel data estimations of annual data from 10 OECD countries over 17 years.

On the political economy of social security and public education

This paper analyzes simultaneous voting on the wage tax rate and investment in public education with three overlapping generations and ability differences inside each cohort. Wage tax revenue finances public education and social security benefits. The presence of ability differences introduces a time-consistency problem with repeated voting. This can be solved by trigger strategies, which do not punish upward deviations in the wage tax rate. If there are multiple equilibria, then higher tax rates are associated with more education. Surprisingly, the median voter may be a young citizen, even when cohorts are of the same size.

Pareto-Improving Bequest Taxation

Altruistic parents may transfer resources to their offspring by providing education, and by leaving bequests. We show that in the presence of wage taxation, a small bequest tax may improve efficiency in an overlapping-generations framework with only intended bequests, by enhancing incentives of parents to invest in their children's education. This result holds even if the wage tax rate is held constant when introducing bequest taxation. We also calculate an optimal mix of wage and bequest taxes with alternative parameter combinations. In all cases, the optimal wage tax rate is clearly higher than the optimal bequest tax rate, but the latter is generally positive when the required government revenue in the economy is sufficiently high.

Local Revenue Hills: Evidence from Four U.S. Cities

We provide estimates of the effects and long-run elasticities of the tax base with respect to tax rates for four large U.S. cities: Houston (property taxation), Minneapolis (property taxation), New York City (property, general sales, and income taxation), and Philadelphia (property, gross receipts, and wage taxation). Results suggest that three of our cities are near the peaks of their revenue hills; Minneapolis is the exception. A significant negative effect of a balanced-budget increase in city property tax rates on the city property base is interpreted as a capitalization effect and suggests that marginal increases in city spending do not provide positive net benefits to property owners. Estimates of the effects of taxes on city employment levels for New York City and Philadelphia'the two cities for which employment series are available—show the local income and wage tax rates have significant negative effects on city employment levels. Cuts in these tax rates are likely to be an economically cost-effective way to increase city jobs.High taxes, sometimes by diminishing consumption of the taxed commodities, and sometimes by encouraging smuggling, frequently afford a smaller revenue to government than what might be drawn from more moderate taxes. (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, book V, chapter II.)It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption that they contain in their own nature a security against excess. If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. (Alexander Hamilton, “Further Defects of the Present Constitution,” Federalist Papers, No. 21.)If a tax is gradually increased from zero up to the point where it becomes prohibitive, its yield is at first nil, then increase by small stages until it reaches a maximum, after which it gradually declines until it becomes zero again. [Jules Dupuit, “On the Measurement of Utility from Public Works,” reprinted in K. Arrow and Tibor Scitovsky, Readings in Welfare Economics (Homewood, IL: Richard D.Irwin, 1969).]Nor should the bbargument seem strange that taxation may be so high as to defeat its object, and that, given sufficient time to gather the fruits, a reduction bbbbbof taxation will run a better chance than increase of balancing the budget. (John Maynard Keynes, Collected Works of John Maynard Keynes, St. Martin's Press, p. 338.)

On the Political Economy of Social Security and Public Education

This paper analyzes simultaneous voting on the wage tax rate and investment in public education with three overlapping generations and productivity differences inside each cohort. Wage tax revenue finances public education and social security benefits. The presence of productivity differences introduces a time-consistency problem with repeated voting. This can be solved by trigger strategies which do not punish upward deviations in the wage tax rate. If there are multiple equilibria, then higher tax rates are associated with more education. Surprisingly, the median voter may be a young citizen even when cohorts are of the same size.

A three-input model of the spatial effects of a central-city wage tax

This paper considers the short-run and long-run spatial effects (on wages, employment, and business capital as functions of location) of a localized increase in wage tax rates. The model is most applicable to a central city that has a higher wage tax rate than the surrounding suburbs. The inclusion of land as a third input in production significantly reduces the long-run effects of a central-city wage tax on employment near the central-city boundary, as compared with a model in which labor and capital are the only two inputs. The short-run effects are significantly less than the long-run effects.

Local Revenue Hills: Evidence from Four U.S. Cities

We provide estimates of the impact and long-run elasticities of tax base with respect to tax rates for four large U.S. cities: Houston (property taxation), Minneapolis (property taxation), New York City (property, general sales, and income taxation), and Philadelphia (property, gross receipts, and wage taxation). Results suggest that three of our cities are near the peaks of their revenue hills; Minneapolis is the exception. A significant negative effect of a balanced budget increase in city property tax rates on city property base is interpreted as a capitalization effect and suggests that marginal increases in city spending do not provide positive net benefits to property owners. Estimates of the effects of taxes on city employment levels for New York City and Philadelphia - the two cities for which employment series are available - show the local income and wage tax rates have significant negative effects on city employment levels. Cuts in these tax rates are likely to be an economically cost effective way to increase city jobs.

The Spatial Effects of Wage or Property Tax Differentials, and Local Government Choice between Tax Instruments

This paper considers the spatial effects (on wages, employment, and business capital as functions of location) of a localized differential in source-based wage tax rates or business property tax rates between (for example) a central city and the surrounding suburbs. A simple model is used in which business production uses only labor and capital inputs. Consumers have fixed residential locations but may commute to work. Wage and property tax differentials have effects that are similar in some ways but different in other ways. If given a choice, a local government would choose to set its business property tax rate equal to zero and use only a wage tax.

Alternative tax constitutions and risky education in a federation

I analyze a two-period model in which risk-averse students divide their time between risky education, leisure, and work. The educated can migrate. Wage-tax financed transfer to students acts as an insurance, and increases both human capital investment and demand for leisure. I derive sufficient conditions for tax competition to lead to inefficiently low wage tax rates. I suggest that the educated should pay their wage taxes to the region which has financed their education. I show that this would increase taxation and human capital investment, and would also benefit the owners of the complementary factor.