The contribution of tax-benefit instruments to income redistribution in Italy

Journal title ECONOMIA PUBBLICA
Author/s Stefano Boscolo
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/2
Language English Pages 51 P. 181-231 File size 2028 KB
DOI 10.3280/EP2022-002001
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Over the last two decades, interest in understanding what determines the redistributive role of tax-benefit systems has burgeoned worldwide. In the case of Italy, previous analyses tended to focus on quantifying the contribution of marginal tax rates, deductions and tax credits to the redistributive capacity of the personal income tax (PIT), while neglecting the effect of proportional taxes, social insurance contributions (SICs) and tax-free cash benefits on income redistribution. This paper aims to address this gap by applying Gini-based decomposition methodologies (Onrubia et al., 2014; Urban, 2014) to the vertical and horizontal effects of the Italian tax-benefit system for the 2018 year at the national level and the macroregional level. The findings show that tax-benefit instruments different from progressive taxation can contribute up to more than 50% of the redistributive effect with marked spatial differences regarding social transfers and SICs.

Keywords: tax-benefit system, progressive taxation, redistribution, EUROMOD

Jel codes: D31, H23, H24

  1. Baldini M., Giarda E., Olivieri A., Pellegrino S., Zanardi A. (2015). Il “Bonus” degli 80 euro: caratteristiche ed effetti redistributivi. Rivista di Diritto Finanziario e Scienza delle Finanze, LXXIV(I): 3-22.
  2. Baldini M., Casabianca E.J., Giarda E., Lusignoli L. (2018). The impact of REI on Italian households’ income: a micro and macro evaluation. Politica Economica, XXXIV(2): 103-134. DOI: 10.1429/90853
  3. Baldini M., Rizzo L. (2020). Effetti distributivi della flat tax: il caso italiano. Economia Italiana, 1: 95-134.
  4. Barbetta G.P., Pellegrino S., Turati G. (2018). What Explains the Redistribution Achieved by the Italian Personal Income Tax? Evidence from Administrative Data. Public Finance Review, 46(1): 7-28. DOI: 10.1177/1091142116651488
  5. Bargain O., Callan T. (2010). Analysing the effects of tax-benefit reforms on income distribution: a decomposition approach. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 8: 1-21.
  6. Bazzoli M., De Poli S., Fiorio C. (2017). The impacts of the Renzi government’s economic policies on income distribution. In: S. Ginebri (Ed.), Italian Fiscal Policy Review 2015. Rome: RomaTrE-Press.
  7. Boscolo S. (2019). Quantifying the Redistributive Effect of the Erosion of the Italian Personal Income Tax Base: A Microsimulation Exercise. Economia Pubblica, 2: 39-80. DOI: 10.3280/EP2019-002003
  8. Causa O., Hermansen M. (2019). Income redistribution through taxes and transfers across OECD countries. OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 1453.
  9. Ceriani L., Figari F., Fiorio C. (2018). EUROMOD Country Report. ITALY (IT) 2015-2018. -- https://www.euromod.ac.uk/sites/default/files/country-reports/year9/Y9_CR_IT_Final.pdf.
  10. Cerqueti R., Ausloos M. (2015). Statistical assessment of regional wealth inequalities: the Italian case. Quality & Quantity, 49: 2307-2323.
  11. Chiri S., Borselli F., Buoncompagni A., Manestra S. (2013). Tassazione delle abitazioni e mercato degli affitti. In: BI (Bank of Italy) (Ed.), Le tendenze del mercato immobiliare: l’Italia e il confronto internazionale – Seminari e convegni. Rome.
  12. Creedy J., Van de Ven J. (2002). Decomposing redistributive effects of taxes and transfers in Australia: annual and lifetime measures. Australian Economic Papers, 40(2): 185-198. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8454.00121
  13. Curci N., Savegnago M., Cioffi M. (2017). BIMic: The Bank of Italy microsimulation model for the Italian tax and benefit system. Bank of Italy Occasional Papers No. 394.
  14. Curci N., Rizza P, Romanelli M., Savegnago M. (2020). Irpef, (in)equità e (in)efficienza: un’analisi strutturale basata sul modello di microsimulazione BIMic. Economia Italiana, 1: 165-191.
  15. Di Caro P. (2017). Analisi distributiva dell’IRPEF utilizzando i microdati di fonte fiscale. Economia Pubblica, 1: 35-59.
  16. Di Nicola F., Mongelli G., Pellegrino S. (2015). The static microsimulation model of the Italian Department of Finance: Structure and first results regarding income and housing taxation. Economia Pubblica, 2: 125-157.
  17. Fuest C., Niehues J., Peichl A. (2010). The Redistributive Effects of Tax Benefit Systems in the Enlarged EU. Public Finance Review, 38(4): 473-500. DOI: 10.1177/1091142110373480
  18. Giannini S., Pellegrino S. (2011). Al via la delega per la riforma fiscale. lavoce.info, 06.10.
  19. Guillaud E., Matthiew O., Michaêl Z. (2019). Four levers of redistribution: the impact of tax and transfer systems on inequality reduction. Review of Income and Wealth, 66(2): 444-466.
  20. Hlasny V., Verme P. (2018). Top Incomes and Inequality Measurement: A Comparative Analysis of Correction Methods Using the EU SILC data. Econometrics, 6(2): 30.
  21. Hümbelin O., Farys R. (2018). Income redistribution through taxation – how deductions undermine the effect of taxes. Journal of Income Distribution, 25(1): 1-35.
  22. Immervoll H., Levy H., Lietz C., Mantovani D., O’Donoughe C., Sutherland H., Verbist G. (2005). Household Incomes and Redistribution in the European Union: Quantifying the Equalising Properties of Taxes and Benefits. IZA Discussion Papers No. 1824.
  23. Kakwani N.C. (1984). On the Measurement of Tax Progressivity and Redistribution Effect of Taxes with Applications to Horizontal and Vertical Equity. Advances in Econometrics, 3: 149-168.
  24. Kristjánsson A.S. (2011). Income redistribution in Iceland: development and European comparisons. European Journal of Social Security, 13(4): 392-423. DOI: 10.1177/138826271101300402
  25. Kristjánsson A.S. (2013). Redistributive effects in a Dual Income Tax System. FinanzArchiv / Public Finance Analysis, 69(2): 148-166. DOI: 10.1628/001522113X666917
  26. Lerman R.I., Yitzhaki S. (1985). Income Inequality Effects by Income Source: A New Approach and Applications to the United States. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 67(1): 151-156. DOI: 10.2307/1928447
  27. Liberati P. (2020). Alcune riflessioni sul sistema tributario italiano. Economia Italiana, 1: 239-265.
  28. Maitino M.L., Ravagli L., Sciclone N. (2017). MicroReg: a Traditional Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Model Extended to Indirect Taxes and In-Kind Transfers. International Journal of Microsimulation, 10(1): 5-38. DOI: 10.34196/IJM.00148
  29. MEF (Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance) (2019). Documento di Economia e Finanza 2019. Sezione III: Programma Nazionale di Riforma. Rome
  30. Monticelli E. (2019). Il nuovo Reddito di cittadinanza ed il Rei: analogie e differenze. eticaeconomia.it, 31.01. Morger M., Schaltegger C.A. (2018). Income tax schedule and redistribution in direct democracies – the Swiss case. Journal of Economic Inequality, 16(3): 413-438.
  31. Mussida C., Parisi M.L. (2019). Features of personal income inequality before and during the crisis: an analysis of Italian regions. Regional studies, 54(4): 472-482. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1624711
  32. O’Donoghue C. (2014). Handbook of Microsimulation Modelling. Bingley: Emerald. Onrubia J., Picos-Sánchez F., del Carmen Rodado M. (2014). Rethinking the Pfähler-Lambert decomposition analyse real world personal income taxes. International Tax and Public Finance, 21(4): 796-812.1.
  33. Orcutt G.H. (2007). A new type of socio-economic system. International Journal of Microsimulation, 1(1): 3-9. DOI: 10.34196/IJM.00002
  34. Pellegrino S., Panteghini M.P. (2020). Le riforme dell’IRPEF: uno sguardo attraverso 45 anni di storia. Economia Italiana, 1: 11-93.
  35. Piacentini M. (2014). Measuring Income Inequality and Poverty at the Regional Level in OECD Countries. OECD Statistics Working Papers No. 58.
  36. Reynolds M., Smolensky E. (1977). Public Expenditures, Taxes, and the Distribution of Income: The United States, 1950, 1961, 1970. New York: Academic Press.
  37. Shorrocks A.F. (1980). The Class of Additively Decomposable Inequality Measures. Econometrica, 48(3): 613-625.
  38. Stevanato D. (2016). Dalla crisi dell’Irpef alla flat tax: prospettive per una riforma dell’imposta sul reddito. Bologna: il Mulino.
  39. Stevanato D. (2017). Tassazione progressiva, equità del prelievo e flat tax. Economia e Società Regionale, XXXV(1): 122-147. DOI: 10.3280/ES2017-001009
  40. Sutherland H., Figari F. (2013). EUROMOD: the European Union tax-benefit microsimulation model. International Journal of Microsimulation, 6(1): 4-26. DOI: 10.34196/IJM.00075
  41. Urban I. (2008). Income redistribution in Croatia: the role of individual taxes and social transfers. Financial Theory and Practice, 3(2): 387-403.
  42. Urban I. (2014). Contributions of taxes and benefits to vertical and horizontal effects. Social Choice and Welfare, 42(3): 619-645.
  43. Verbist G., Figari F. (2014). The redistributive effect and progressivity of taxes revisited: An International Comparison across the European Union. FinanzArchiv/ Public Finance Analysis, 70(3): 405-429. DOI: 10.1628/001522114X684529
  44. Wagstaff A., Van Doorslaer E. (2001). What Makes the Personal Income Tax Progressive? A Comparative Analysis for Fifteen OECD Countries. International Tax and Public Finance, 8: 299-315. DOI: 10.1023/A:1011268209860

  • The Italian Treasury Dynamic Microsimulation Model (T-DYMM): Data, Structure and Baseline Results Riccardo Conti, Michele Bavaro, Stefano Boscolo, Elena Fabrizi, Chiara Puccioni, Ottavio Ricchi, Simone Tedeschi, in SSRN Electronic Journal /2023
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4546893

Stefano Boscolo, The contribution of tax-benefit instruments to income redistribution in Italy in "ECONOMIA PUBBLICA " 2/2022, pp 181-231, DOI: 10.3280/EP2022-002001