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International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Ireland focuses on ensuring an inclusive and growth-enhancing fiscal policy mix. It assesses the scope for improving the tax system toward a more growth-friendly structure, and for achieving efficiency gains in public expenditure. It also discusses upcoming impediments to long term fiscal sustainability and proposes options to achieve a more growth friendly and equity-enhancing revenue and expenditure policy mix. Under the 2021 National Development Plan, the government plans to significantly expand investment to historically high levels over the medium term. Good progress has been achieved in raising public spending efficiency but there is scope for further improvement. The stylized facts highlight the need for reforms to broaden the tax base and find new and stable sources of revenues as well as improving public expenditure efficiency. Public spending should focus on growth-friendly spending and reducing efficiency gaps. Decisive reforms are needed to ensure the future sustainability of the pension system and safeguard long term fiscal sustainability.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper explores wealth inequality and private savings in Germany. Trends in increasing corporate profits and gross savings have widened top income inequality, as corporations are typically owned by households in the top of the wealth distribution. The impact on income inequality is more pronounced in countries where the rise in profitability was a result of lower wage growth and labor income shares to start with, as was the case in Germany. The evidence strongly suggests this is not the case and underscores the important role of German business wealth concentration in this context. As high corporate savings and underlying profits largely reflect capital income accruing to wealthy households and increasingly retained in closely-held firms, the build-up of external imbalance has been accompanied by widening top income inequality, rising private savings and compressed consumption rates. The concentration of privately held and publicly listed firm ownership in the hands of industrial dynasties and institutional investors is especially prevalent in Germany, possibly reflecting distortions in firm entry, financing conditions and tax incentives.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper discusses income inequality in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Income inequality in Hong Kong SAR remains high, despite declining recently. Redistributive policies implemented by the authorities have helped to lower income inequality. However, inequality is likely to rise in the medium-term due to aging and thus more needs to be done. A package of policies could lower the Gini index by 3–4 points by 2050 including: more progressive salaries tax; higher reliance on recurrent property taxes; and increased public expenditure on social welfare, health, housing, education and childcare. According to recent evidence in the literature, these policies could also boost growth by 0.2–0.5 percentage points per year. Public spending on social welfare could continue to be raised to boost redistribution and increase access of poorer households. Spending on education and childcare should be raised to help lower the market income inequality directly. The commissioned study aiming to determine the demand and supply for childcare services and map out the long-term service development programs, as well as the initiatives mentioned in the 2018 Policy Address, should help in this regard.