Alberto Daniel Barreix

Revisiting personal income tax in Latin America

This study documents the process through which standard tax reliefs and tax allowances reduce the taxable base of the Personal Income Tax (PIT) in Latin American countries by using the models developed in Taxing Wages in Latin America and the Caribbean 2016. The theoretical estimations on the personal income tax are complemented with data from the tax administrations. The study finds that the PIT is progressive, but only paid by a small proportion of formal high-wage earning individuals. On average, more than 80% of the PIT is paid by the richest ten per cent of the population but at average effective rates below the region’s average statutory minimum tax schedule rate. The combination of these factors results in the PIT having a scant revenue-raising capacity and a meagre impact on income redistribution.

Revisando el impuesto a la renta personal en América Latina: Evolución e impacto

Este estudio documenta el proceso a traves del cual los alivios y concesiones fiscales estandar reducen la base imponible del Impuesto a la Renta Personal (IRP) en los paises latinoamericanos usando los modelos desarrollados en “Impuestos sobre los Salarios en America Latina y el Caribe 2016”. Las estimaciones teoricas sobre el IRP son complementadas con datos suministrados por las administraciones tributarias nacionales. El estudio revela que el IRP es progresivo, pero que solo es pagado por una pequena proporcion de individuos de altos salarios dentro del sector formal. En promedio, mas del 80% del IRP es pagado por el 10% mas rico de la poblacion pero a tasas efectivas promedio por debajo de la tasa legal minima promedio de la region. La combinacion de estos factores resulta en que el IRP tenga escasa capacidad de incrementar la recaudacion y un impacto minimo en la redistribucion del ingreso.

Breve historia de la transparencia tributaria

This study describes progress on the international exchange of tax information from the end of the Second World War -a period marked by the complete absence of interinstitutional international collaboration- to more recent years, when there has been real awareness of taxation as an intrinsically global phenomenon. Thus the study analyzes the development of the new technical instruments and the institutional apparatus that have facilitated such progress, as well as matters that threaten their effectiveness and the critical factors in these processes.