Is a value added tax regressive? Annual versus lifetime incidence measures.: An article from: National Tax Journal

This digital document is an article from National Tax Journal, published by National Tax Association on December 1, 1994. The length of the article is 8914 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: We measure the lifetime incidence of a value added tax (VAT) using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX). Using annual income to measure economic well-being makes a VAT look quite regressive. Using two different measures of lifetime income, we find that a broad-based VAT would be only modestly regressive. Using current consumption as a proxy for lifetime income makes a VAT proportional. We discuss why these two approaches to measuring lifetime income lead to different incidence results. We also consider the distributional impact of zero rating food, housing, and medical expenditures.

Citation Details
Title: Is a value added tax regressive? Annual versus lifetime incidence measures.
Author: Erik Caspersen
Publication:National Tax Journal (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1994
Publisher: National Tax Association
Volume: 47 Issue: n4 Page: 731-746

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