香港税制的收入再分配效应分析

An Analysis of Income Redistributive Effect of Hong Kong Tax System

香港地区税制在过去的几十年变化很小。一直以来,香港税制中存在着一些不利于税负公平的因素,主要体现在非税收入、税率结构、标准税率、税额抵免以及财政收入结构等方面,这些因素共同影响了香港税制的收入再分配功能。通过RSA指数和有效税率来检验香港税制的收入再分配功能,结果表明:香港的税制具有一定的收入再分配功能,所得税的累进性随着税率结构的微幅调整而变化。如果能够减少资本利得的免税政策,提高所得税扁平的税率结构或取消标准税率,调整税额抵免的策略使税额抵免更有针对性,那么香港税制的累进性将会得到较大的改善。

Tax system in Hong Kong has experienced minimal changes over the past several decades. There exist certain factors that would compromise the fairness of tax burden distribution in its tax system. Such factors as nontax revenue, tax rate structure, standard tax rate, tax credit and financial revenue structure have jointly affected the income redistribution function of Hon Kong tax system. This paper makes use of RSA index and the effective tax rate to test the income redistribution effect of Hong Kong tax system. The results show that Hong Kong＇s tax system has certain income redistributive effect and the progressivity of income tax changes slightly with the tax rate variation. The progressivity of the tax system would be greatly improved if the tax exemption policies for capital gains are reduced, the tax rate structure of flat income tax is raised or the standard tax rate is abolished, or the strategy of tax credit is adjusted to make it more targeted.