Taxing Consumption - An Analysis of the Distribution of the VAT Burden in Switzerland
(2015) NEKN01 20151Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This paper investigates the distribution of the tax burden of the value added tax, VAT, in Switzerland. The current Swiss VAT system overall is slightly progressive, putting a higher tax burden on the high-income households. The analysis of different household types yields similar results. The results depend crucially on the measurement base adopted. It is however argued that the tax ratio as a proportion of expenditure pictures the tax burden of households from a lifetime perspective most realistically. A simulation is performed in order to evaluate the impact of a uniform consumption tax rate. While the VAT system would still be somewhat progressive, the reform is regressive, imposing a greater change in tax burden on low-income... (More)
- This paper investigates the distribution of the tax burden of the value added tax, VAT, in Switzerland. The current Swiss VAT system overall is slightly progressive, putting a higher tax burden on the high-income households. The analysis of different household types yields similar results. The results depend crucially on the measurement base adopted. It is however argued that the tax ratio as a proportion of expenditure pictures the tax burden of households from a lifetime perspective most realistically. A simulation is performed in order to evaluate the impact of a uniform consumption tax rate. While the VAT system would still be somewhat progressive, the reform is regressive, imposing a greater change in tax burden on low-income households. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/5462592
- author
- Kaderli, Tabea Anita LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKN01 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- consumption tax, VAT burden, income distribution, uniform VAT, Switzerland
- language
- English
- id
- 5462592
- date added to LUP
- 2015-06-30 10:55:09
- date last changed
- 2015-06-30 10:55:09
@misc{5462592, abstract = {{This paper investigates the distribution of the tax burden of the value added tax, VAT, in Switzerland. The current Swiss VAT system overall is slightly progressive, putting a higher tax burden on the high-income households. The analysis of different household types yields similar results. The results depend crucially on the measurement base adopted. It is however argued that the tax ratio as a proportion of expenditure pictures the tax burden of households from a lifetime perspective most realistically. A simulation is performed in order to evaluate the impact of a uniform consumption tax rate. While the VAT system would still be somewhat progressive, the reform is regressive, imposing a greater change in tax burden on low-income households.}}, author = {{Kaderli, Tabea Anita}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Taxing Consumption - An Analysis of the Distribution of the VAT Burden in Switzerland}}, year = {{2015}}, }