Distributional Impacts of Taxes and Benefits in Post-Soviet Countries
This study compares the distributional impacts of the main tax and social spending programs in eight countries of the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Ukraine) by applying...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/426681633524510673/Distributional-Impacts-of-Taxes-and-Benefits-in-Post-Soviet-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36346 |
| Summary: | This study compares the
distributional impacts of the main tax and social spending
programs in eight countries of the former Soviet Union
(Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian
Federation, Tajikistan, and Ukraine) by applying a
state-of-the-art fiscal incidence analysis based on the
Commitment to Equity methodology. The region is highly
interesting due to a unique combination of strong elements
of path dependency (socialist legacies) with radical
liberalization and welfare state retrenchment. The study
examines the actual outcomes in terms of inequality and
poverty and assesses the extent to which these outcomes can
be attributed to various welfare state policies in these
countries. It examines the extent to which taxes and social
spending are progressive (whether the average transfer
declines with income) and equalizing (whether they reduce
inequality). In contrast to the majority of fiscal incidence
studies, which are typically limited to the assessment of
the impact of direct taxes and transfers, the study
estimates the cumulative impact of the tax-benefit system as
a whole, including direct and indirect taxes, cash
transfers, and transfers in kind such as public education
and health care. |
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