Income taxes and redistribution in the early twentieth century

This paper examines the distributive effects of personal income taxation in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the first half of the 20th century. We estimate the evolution of marginal and average effective tax rates across the income distribution and calculate the correspondin...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Torregrosa Hetland, Sara, Sabaté, Oriol
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad San Jorge (USJ)
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/54496
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/54496
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Income tax
Progressivity
Taxation
Redistribution
World wars
Descripción
Sumario:This paper examines the distributive effects of personal income taxation in Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the first half of the 20th century. We estimate the evolution of marginal and average effective tax rates across the income distribution and calculate the corresponding indices of progressivity and redistribution. Our results show that redistribution through income taxation increased during the period with varying intensity and mechanisms. During World War I, this was a joint effect of increases in the amount of revenue collected and progressivity. In contrast, during World War II, revenue increased again but progressivity diminished.