Fiscal Incidence in Belarus
The paper employs the Commitment to Equity framework to present a first attempt at a comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis for Belarus, encompassing the revenue and expenditures components of the fiscal system, including direct and indirect taxes, as well as direct, indirect, and in-kind transfers. The analysis reveals that fiscal policies in Belarus effectively redistribute income from the top to the bottom of the income distribution. Direct transfers, especially pensions, are the most equalizing and pro-poor of the fiscal interventions—direct transfers and direct taxes lower the national poverty headcount by 17 percentage points and lower the Gini index of inequality from 0.407 to 0.267. Some of the indirect taxes, by contrast, are regressive and indirect transfers -- poorly targeted, such that the effect of these components of the fiscal system is not equalizing. Finally, the cost-efficiency of different parts of the fiscal system in Belarus varies considerably. Unemployment benefits, pensions, and child benefits are found to be cost -- efficient, while indirect subsidies are highly cost-inefficient. The analysis points toward possible reforms that would allow reducing poverty and inequality more efficiently.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017-10
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| Subjects: | FISCAL INCIDENCE, SOCIAL SPENDING, INEQUALITY, POVERTY, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/769601507818250590/Fiscal-incidence-in-Belarus-a-commitment-to-equity-analysis https://hdl.handle.net/10986/28551 |
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| Summary: | The paper employs the Commitment to
Equity framework to present a first attempt at a
comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis for Belarus,
encompassing the revenue and expenditures components of the
fiscal system, including direct and indirect taxes, as well
as direct, indirect, and in-kind transfers. The analysis
reveals that fiscal policies in Belarus effectively
redistribute income from the top to the bottom of the income
distribution. Direct transfers, especially pensions, are the
most equalizing and pro-poor of the fiscal
interventions—direct transfers and direct taxes lower the
national poverty headcount by 17 percentage points and lower
the Gini index of inequality from 0.407 to 0.267. Some of
the indirect taxes, by contrast, are regressive and indirect
transfers -- poorly targeted, such that the effect of these
components of the fiscal system is not equalizing. Finally,
the cost-efficiency of different parts of the fiscal system
in Belarus varies considerably. Unemployment benefits,
pensions, and child benefits are found to be cost --
efficient, while indirect subsidies are highly
cost-inefficient. The analysis points toward possible
reforms that would allow reducing poverty and inequality
more efficiently. |
|---|