OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
Taxes, income and economic mobility in Ireland
New evidence from tax records data
This paper analyses income inequality in Ireland using a new panel dataset based on the administrative tax records of the Revenue Commissioners for Ireland. High inequality at market incomes in Ireland by international standards appears to be driven by both ends of the income distribution. An analysis of income mobility over time shows it has been low at both ends of the income distribution, though it increased at the low end once the crisis began, reflecting the sharp deterioration of the labour market. The data confirms that the tax system is highly progressive at the high end of income distribution and the welfare system provides the most significant support to lower income deciles in Ireland. The redistributive function in the tax and benefit system was enhanced during the last decade, not only because more income support was necessitated with the crisis, but also because of steeper and more progressive tax rates.
This working paper relates to the 2015 OECD Economic Survey of Ireland (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-ireland.
Keywords: social benefits, income tax, income distribution, tax credit
JEL:
H53: Public Economics / National Government Expenditures and Related Policies / Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs;
D31: Microeconomics / Distribution / Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions;
E24: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy / Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity;
D63: Microeconomics / Welfare Economics / Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement;
H24: Public Economics / Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
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