Title: Is the dual income tax a real alternative to traditional income taxes?

Authors: Santiago Alvarez-Garcia, Juan Prieto-Rodriguez, Juan Gabriel Rodriguez-Hernandez

Addresses: Instituto de Estudios Fiscales and Universidad de Oviedo (Spain), Departamento de Economia, Avenida del Cristo s/n, 33071 Oviedo, Spain. ' Universidad de Oviedo and Instituto de Estudios Fiscales (Spain), Departamento de Economia, Facultad de Economicas, 33071 Oviedo, Spain. ' Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and Instituto de Estudios Fiscales (Spain), Departamento de Economia Aplicada, Campus de Vicalvaro, 28032 Madrid, Spain

Abstract: In the fiscal reforms undertaken throughout the last decade, the dual income tax system, based on a broadened concept of income and progressive tax rates, has been implanted in several countries as an alternative model to traditional tax systems. The dual tax is characterised by combining a progressive taxation on labour and transfer incomes with a proportional taxation on capital income. Moreover, the capital income tax rate is generally set at the same level as the existing corporate tax rate. In this paper, the most important characteristics of both tax systems are compared. The theoretical arguments that justify these reforms are examined and then the main characteristics of the current dual taxes in the Nordic countries and Holland are analysed. We conclude with some comments on the viability of extending this tax system to other countries.

Keywords: dual income taxes; fiscal competition; fiscal reform; linear taxes; fiscal policy; progressive taxation; labour income; transfer income; proportional taxation; capital income.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2006.009807

International Journal of Public Policy, 2006 Vol.1 No.3, pp.320 - 332

Published online: 14 May 2006 *

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