TY  - JOUR
AU  - Caspersen,Erik
AU  - Metcalf,Gilbert
TI  - Is A Value Added Tax Progressive? Annual Versus Lifetime Incidence Measures
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4387
PY  - 1995
Y2  - February 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4387
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4387.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Gilbert E. Metcalf
Room 3221
Department of the Treasury
Washington, DC 20220
1500 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Tel: 202-622-0173
E-Mail: gilbert.metcalf@tufts.edu
AB  - We measure the lifetime incidence of a value added tax (V AT) using income data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and consumption data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX). When annual income is used as a measure of economic well-being, a VAT looks quite regressive. However, the results change significantly when the analysis is done using lifetime income. Using two different measures of lifetime income, we find that a VAT in the United States would be proportional to slightly progressive over the lifetime.
ER  -