Apologies for cross-posting.
New Policy Brief by Michael Fuchs and Christine Lietz.
"Austria: Distributive Effects of Social Insurance Contributions, Income
Tax and Monetary Social Benefits on the Household Level"
Abstract:
In a European comparison Austria shows above-average levels of both
taxation and social expenditures. The analyses carried out show that the
high levels of taxation and social expenditures not only result in a
redistribution from the left- into the right-hand pocket of residents
but also that the vertical redistribution from the top to the bottom
income groups through social insurance contributions, income taxes and
monetary social benefits in sum reaches a sizeable dimension.
Cash benefits have the highest redistributive impact of the three
instruments under investigation, although the redistributive impact of
income taxes is also substantial. Social security contributions – owing
to the upper contribution limit – even have a slightly regressive impact.
The results are part of a completed research project funded by the
“Jubiläumsfonds” of the Austrian National Bank (project no. 11294). For
the analyses, we used the European Tax/Benefit Micro-simulation Model
EUROMOD with EU-SILC 2004 (provided by Statistics Austria) as input data.
More: http://www.euro.centre.org/detail.php?xml_id=1209
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Best regards,
Annette Hexelschneider, Dipl.-Ing.
Head of Knowledge and Information Management Support Unit
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research Berggasse 17
A-1090 Vienna (Austria)
Tel: +43-1-319 45 05-23
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