ISP Working Paper Number 04-34
Dillon Alleyne and James Alm, Roy Bahl, and Sally Wallace, December 2004
Note:
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Abstract:
The Government of Jamaica imposes a wide range of taxes on income, consumption, and property. An important consideration in any reform of these taxes is their impact of the distribution of income, or their tax burden. This staff paper presents background and analysis of the burden of the existing system of taxes. The question of “who bears the final burden of a tax?” is a fundamental one. Any tax will cause individuals and firms to change their behaviors, and the resulting changes in product and factor prices will affect the “incidence”, or the distributional effects, of the tax. Economists have devoted much attention to the question of tax incidence. Although there is wide agreement about the incidence of some taxes, such as excise or individual income taxes, the incidence of other taxes remains controversial. Even so, several basic “principles” of tax incidence should be kept in mind.
