Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282208 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
KRTK-KTI Working Papers No. KRTK-KTI WP - 2022/15
Publisher: 
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Budapest
Abstract (Translated): 
The study examines the income redistribution effects of the Hungarian flat-tax and the introduction of the novel family allowance scheme on the basis of administrative data for 2007, 2011 and 2020, which yields more accurate estimates than previous studies based on aggregated or survey data. Between 2011 and 2013, progressive taxation was abolished, and a flat income tax was introduced, along with a substantial widening of pre-existing family tax credits. We find that the tax reform has favoured high-income earners and taxpayers with children, while the main losers are low-income and/or childless workers. While the family tax credit system is progressive to some extent, this effect is in practice negligeable, therefore the income tax system can still be considered flat. The family tax credit scheme favours wealthy families with many children over low-income families with fewer or no children. The biggest winners of the scheme are taxpayers in the top income decile with three or more children: these 22,000 taxpayers (that is, 2 percent of all recipients) receive 10 percent of the total amount of the family tax credit, and almost a third of the credit allocated to families with three or more children.
Subjects: 
flat tax reform
income tax
redistribution
family tax credit
JEL: 
H24
H23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
620.98 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.