Optimal Labour Income Taxation in Poland: The Case of High-Income Earners

• Authors: Maciej Dudek , Paweł Dudek , Konrad Walczyk

Title variants

PL

Optymalne opodatkowanie dochodów z pracy w Polsce – przypadek osób o wysokich dochodach

Abstracts

PL

Na podstawie analizy danych pochodzących z zeznań podatkowych można dowieść, że faktyczny rozkład dochodów osób o wysokich dochodach w Polsce może być dostatecznie dobrze przybliżony przez rozkład Pareto. Oznacza to, że do wyznaczenia optymalnej, krańcowej stopy podatku dochodowego można użyć formuły Saeza [2001]. Z analizy wynika, że obecna taryfa opodatkowania wynagrodzeń w Polsce nie jest optymalna. Jeśli uznać znane szacunki płacowej elastyczności podaży pracy za wiarygodne, optymalna stawka podatku od dochodów z pracy powinna przekroczyć 60%. Inaczej mówiąc, istnieje pole do poprawy efektywności systemu opodatkowania wynagrodzeń w Polsce poprzez podwyższenie krańcowej stopy podatku dla osób o najwyższych dochodach.

EN

In this paper, we use actual data provided by the Polish tax authority and characterise the properties of income distribution in Poland in the case of high-income earners. By employing a variety of techniques we are able to confirm that the distribution of income in Poland can be approximated with a Pareto distribution in its upper tail. This finding makes the formula for the optimal marginal tax rates of Saez [2001] applicable to the Polish case and allows us to provide estimates of the optimal marginal tax rates for Poland. We show that the current tax policy in Poland is not optimal. Specifically, we show, by relying on empirically viable estimates of the elasticity of the labour supply with respect to the wage, that the optimal marginal tax rate at high income levels exceeds 60%. In other words, we suggest that there is room for a welfare-improving reform in Poland, and we argue that high-income individuals should be expected to contribute substantially more at the margin than they currently do.

Keywords

PL

dobrobyt społeczny; efektywność ekonomiczna; rozkład Pareto; podatek optymalny

EN

social welfare; economic efficiency; Pareto distribution; optimal taxation

• Publisher: Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie. Kolegium Analiz Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 313
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 41-65

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Maciej Dudek

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

author

Paweł Dudek

• Schools Complex in Bychawa, Poland

author

Konrad Walczyk

• SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.33119/GN/159031

Biblioteka Nauki

2182067