Suchergebnisse

We use methods developed by the Commitment to Equity Institute to assess the effects of government taxation, social spending and indirect subsidies on poverty and inequality in Ghana. We also simulate several policy reforms to assess their distributional consequences. Results show that, although the country has some very progressive taxes and well-targeted expenditures, the extent of fiscal redistribution is small, but about what one would expect given Ghana's income level and relatively low initial inequality. Results for poverty reduction are less encouraging: were it not for the in-kind benefits from health and education spending, the overall effect of government spending and taxation would actually increase poverty in Ghana. Eliminating energy subsidies and at the same time reallocating part of the savings to well-targeted transfer programs could lower the fiscal deficit while reducing inequality and protecting the poor.

Orthodox expenditure and fiscal incidence studies seem to be ob jective analyses of the budgetary impact of the public sector; they are, in fact, based on an important assumption about the State, which, when changed, also significantly changes the results of these studies. This article summarizes a com parison of an orthodox model and a radical model and finds support for the con tention that orthodox incidence studies mystify the purpose and impact of gov ernment budgets.

This paper uses methods developed by the Commitment to Equity Institute and data from the Household Budget Survey to assess the effects of government taxation and social spending on poverty and inequality in Moldova. The paper presents the first detailed distributional analysis of the tax and expenditure sides of the fiscal system, examining in particular the contribution of different taxes and transfers to poverty and inequality reduction in Moldova, as well as the cost-effectiveness of different taxes and transfers in achieving these poverty and inequality reduction goals. The analysis finds that the tax-benefit system in Moldova is quite pro-poor and has a significant effect on poverty and inequality, with the poverty reduction effect being stronger for lower poverty thresholds. Pensions provide much of the poverty-reducing effect, which is not surprising, given that in an aging society like Moldova, pensions are the main income source for many households. Direct transfers are also quite effective in reducing poverty and are also efficient, providing a relatively high degree of poverty reduction per dollar allocated to these programs, but their overall effect on poverty is muted by their small budgetary allocations.

According to Swaziland's National Development Strategy, the country's objectives are to improve the standard of living of all citizens, eradicate poverty, create employment, enhance gender equality and improve the country's human development ranking from a low human development rank to a high human development rank by 2022. Persistent poverty and the unequal distribution of income have, however, posed significant challenges for the country in achieving these development goals. This study assessed the extent to which the government of Swaziland has been able to use its fiscal policy, in particular the tax and public expenditure policies on health and education, to redistribute resources and reduce income inequality. The study also investigated the incidence of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by households in accessing public health and education facilities. Based on both the Swaziland Household Income and Expenditure Survey data collected in the 2010 national survey and the government's 2010 budget, the study found that the tax policy had had a slight redistributive effect, as the Gini coefficient, had dropped from 0.7909 (pre-tax income distribution) to 0.7424 (post-tax income distribution). Public expenditure on education improved the income of poor households by 32.83 per cent and had led to a further reduction in the Gini to 0.7185; however, public expenditure on tertiary education was poorly targeted as rich households were deriving a higher benefit than poor households. Out-of-pocket expenses on health were not regressive despite the fact that there was a low usage of health facilities by the low income households. On the other hand, education out-of-pocket expenses were found to be regressive and had a negative impact on the progression rates from primary education to higher learning institutions in the low income households. Overall it would appear that the country's fiscal policy has led to a reduction in the country's income inequality. However, the country has not made significant progress towards the achievement of its development goals, with the 2010 national household survey revealing that the poverty rate was still relatively high at 0.630, while the 2010 labour force survey revealed that unemployment was still high at 0.406 and the 2014 human development report showed that the country was still ranked low in terms of human development.