Horacio Levy

The Impact of Brazil's Tax-Benefit System on Inequality and Poverty

The Brazilian government raises taxes amounting to 35% of GDP and spends more than two thirds of this on social programmes. These shares are in pair with the OECD averages and well in excess of Latin America averages. However, while tax-benefit systems in most OECD countries reduce income disparities very significantly, the Brazilian government has been much less successful in alleviating inequality and poverty. Focussing on taxes and cash transfers, this paper investigates the impact of the government budget on the income distribution in Brazil, and evaluates its efficiency and effectiveness in reducing inequality and poverty. We present BRAHMS, a new tax-benefit microsimulation model for Brazil and illustrate its use by evaluating the impact of policy on economic inequality. It is argued that microsimulation provides a valuable analytical tool for policy makers in emerging and developing countries in particular.

Swapping Policies: Alternative Tax-Benefit Strategies to Support Children in Austria, Spain and the UK

Three European countries with very different tax-benefit systems have recently substantially increased the level of support for children: Austria, Spain and the UK. Austria mainly makes use of universal benefits; Spain, tax concessions; and the UK means-tested benefits and tax credits. This article addresses the question of whether the chosen strategies are in fact the most effective for each country. It considers what would have happened if these countries had transformed the architecture of their systems in either of the other two directions. It makes use of EUROMOD, the European tax-benefit microsimulation model that is designed for making cross-country comparisons, to explore the distributional and, in particular, child poverty effects of budget-neutral alternatives. The results show that three factors – the level of spending, its structure, and the way it impacts in a particular national context – affect the outcomes to varying degrees.

Simulating Brazils tax-benefit system using Brahms, the Brazilian household microsimulation model

Apesar de arrecadar um montante de tributos equivalente a cerca de 37% do PIB e gastar mais da metade desta receita em programas sociais, o governo brasileiro nao tem sido capaz de aliviar significativamente o problema da desigualdade e da pobreza. Alguns estudos tem mostrado evidencia de que esta situacao e, em grande parte, devida a inadequada focalizacao dos gastos publicos. Entretanto, o impacto distributivo do financiamento desses gastos tem recebido menos atencao. O presente trabalho investiga o impacto conjunto dos tributos e transferencias monetarias governamentais sobre a distribuicao de renda entre os domicilios brasileiros e compara o Brasil com alguns outros paises com carga tributaria semelhante.

Income redistribution in the European Union

We explore the redistributive effects of taxes and benefits in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) using EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the EU. As well as describing redistributive effects in aggregate, we assess and compare the effectiveness of eight individual types of policy in reducing income disparities. We derive results for the 27 members of the EU using policies in effect in 2010 and present them for each country separately as well as for the EU as a whole.JEL codesD31, H24, I38.

Family Transfers and Child Poverty in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal

The paper examines the effect of family transfers on child poverty in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Family transfers are defined as to include non-contributory child benefits, contributory family allowances and tax credits or allowances. The drive to reduce child poverty is of particular interest in southern Europe, where public support to poor families with children is often meagre or not available at all. The paper uses the European cross-country microsimulation model, EUROMOD, to assess the distributional impact of existing family transfers and to explore the scope for policy reforms, before it concludes with a discussion of key findings and policy implications.

A CARGA TRIBUTÁRIA EFETIVA SOBRE O TRABALHO NO BRASIL: NÍVEL, DISTRIBUIÇÃO E COMPOSIÇÃO

This paper investigates the level, distribution and structure of the tax burden on labor in Brazil, showing how many and what types of workers are affected by different levels of taxation. The results show a significant variation in the level and composition of the tax burden among subgroups of workers. For example, the effective tax rate for a worker earning the legal minimum wage and having three or more children is little more than a third of the tax rate for a worker with earnings above thirty minimum wages. The study also shows that, compared to the European Union and OCDE countries, the Brazilian tax wedge on labor is one of the lowest, particularly for higher wages.