收入不平等与个人所得税再分配

Income Inequality and the Redistribution of Individual Income Tax

通过构建个人所得税的收入再分配效应评估模型,使用个人所得税面板数据,估计了个人所得税系统1997年到2006年的再分配功能。研究发现,我国个人所得税呈现出累退性,它在扩大可观测总收入不平等和净收入不平等的同时,对以消费基尼系数近似表达的真实不平等也存在一定的显著影响。理论与经验研究表明,在逃税的情况下,税收再分配可能增加实际收入不平等;在较为民主的环境中,税收再分配有利于减少收入不平等。

This paper examines whether income inequality is affected by the redistribution function of individual income tax system.The authors construct the effect assessment model of the income redistribution of individual income tax and use the panel data of individual income tax to test the redistribution function of individual income tax system from 1997 to 2006.The paper finds find that,Chinese individual income tax is regressive,which not only exacerbates the inequality of total observed revenue and net income,but also significantly affects the actual inequality measured approximately by the Gini coefficient.Theory and empirical analysis show that regressive tax may decrease the actual income inequality in case the democratic level is high and may increase the actual income inequality in case tax evasion exists.The article also estimates and supports the Kuznets hypothesis.