Income tax progressivity and inflation during the world wars
This paper studies the impact of inflation on income taxes in Sweden, the UK, and the United States during the world wars. As tax reforms were rising top marginal rates and reducing exemption thresholds, extraordinary levels of inflation eroded the real value of exemptions, brackets, and deductions....
| Autores: | , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/189192 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/189192 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Guerra Mundial I, 1914-1918 Guerra Mundial II, 1939-1945 Impost sobre la renda de les persones físiques Inflació World War, 1914-1918 World War, 1939-1945 Personal income tax Inflation |
| Resumo: | This paper studies the impact of inflation on income taxes in Sweden, the UK, and the United States during the world wars. As tax reforms were rising top marginal rates and reducing exemption thresholds, extraordinary levels of inflation eroded the real value of exemptions, brackets, and deductions. The micro-simulation of actual and alternative scenarios shows that inflation made the tax less progressive, particularly in Sweden during World War I and the UK during World War II. Nevertheless, its redistributive effect increased due to the related growth in tax revenue. Inflation contributed to transform a 'class tax'' into a 'mass tax'. |
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