Redistributive Effect And Progressivity Of Taxes An International Comparison Across The EU Using EUROMOD

This paper gives an international comparison of the redistributive effect of personal income taxes in the 15 countries of the EU, using the European tax-benefit model EUROMOD. We focus on the effect of personal income taxes, social insurance contributions and other direct taxes. We present the contribution of progressivity and average tax rate to the reduction of income inequality, as well as the weight of the various types of tax concessions (i.e. exemptions, deductions, allowances and credits). There appears to be a wide variety among countries in the level of inequality reduction as well as in the instruments used to achieve this reduction. Personal income taxes are in all countries the most important source for inequality reduction, which is to a large extent, though not solely, due to the progressive rate schedule. Countries with a high degree of pre-tax inequality do not systematically redistribute more through their taxes; the results indicate rather the opposite.European Union, microsimulation, income redistribution, income taxes, social insurance contributions

Indirect taxes and social policy: Distributional impact of alternative financing of social security.

The role of indirect taxes in social policy is investigated by 1) comparing the distributional pattern of indirect taxes with the one of personal income taxes and social security contributions; 2) calculating the indirect tax liabilities for recipients of social benefits; 3) assessing the distributional impact of shifting the financing of social security from contributions to indirect taxes. For this purpose we combine the data of the Household Budget Survey and the Socio-Economic Panel, as well as two microsimulation models, namely ASTER (for the calculation of indirect taxes) and MISIM (for the calculation of personal income taxes and social contributions)Belgium; Effects; Income taxes; Personal; World; Labour market; Market; Responses; Model; Social policy; Policy; Impact;

GINI DP 15: Can higher employment levels bring down poverty in the EU?

At the European level and in most EU member states, higher employment levels are seen as key to better poverty outcomes. But what can we expect the actual impact to be? Up until now shift-share analysis has been used to estimate the impact of rising employment on relative income poverty. This method has serious limitations. We propose a more sophisticated simulation model that builds on regression based estimates of employment probabilities and wages. We use this model to estimate the impact on relative income poverty of moving towards the Europe 2020 target of 75 percent of the working aged population in work. Two sensitivity checks are included: giving priority in job allocation to jobless households and imputing low instead of estimated wages. This article shows that employment growth does not necessarily result in lower relative poverty shares, a result that is largely consistent with observed outcomes over the past decade.

Oxygen reduction in acid media: influence of the activity of CoNPc(1,2) bilayer deposits in relation to their attachment to the carbon black support and role of surface groups as a function of heat treatment

O2 reduction was investigated using rotating disk electrode and voltammetry techniques on NPcCo(1,2) impregnations deposited onto two kinds of carbon black support. They were selected on the basis of their similar pH and dibuthylphthalate (DBP) adsorption values. Samples were also characterized by IR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. An optimized thermal treatment yielded an improvement in the O2 reducibility and identical activities (with N = 3.8) on both supports. These spectroscopic methods revealed a bilayer structure and suggested the presence of two sorts of site (active and inactive) which differed in their attachment of the substrate via surface groups which were characterized

Oxygen reduction in acid media: effect of iron substitution by cobalt on heat-treated naphthalocyanine impregnations supported on preselected carbon blacks

FeNPc(1.2) impregnations were investigated at various loadings using a rotating-disk electrode, voltammetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. Optimal activity takes place at monolayer coverage, and major demetallation occurs after prolonged exposure to acid solution. The substitution of Fe by Co enables the electrochemical performances to reach those presented by 10% Pt on Vulcan and stops the demetallation process. The application of fast atomic bombardment secondary ion mass spectrometry (FABS) together with XPS sheds light on the detrimental role of some electrophilic groups attached to the carbon black-catalyst interface

Oxygen reduction in acid media: influence of the heat treatment on the FeNPc(1–20 isomer mixture impregnated on carbon blacks and active charcoals

Oxygen reduction with the aid of a number of FeNPc(1–2) impregnated carbon supports in sulphuric acid solutions has been investigated.\ud \ud Loading of the carbon samples amounted to about 10 wt.%. After a 10 day stay in the aerated solutions the samples were investigated with rotating disk electrode and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. The most active and stable samples correspond to mono- or submonolayers of FeNPc deposited on high dibutylphthalate adsorption carbon blacks. Comparison with data obtained previously on Norit BrX impregnations emphasizes the rôle of the electron density on the inner nitrogen atoms rather than that on the iron centres

Characterisation of multilayer ramp-type ReBa2Cu3O7-delta structures by scanning probe microscopy and high-resolution electron microscopy

We studied the morphology of ramps in REBa2Cu3O7 (REBCO) epitaxial films on SrTiO3 substrates, fabricated by RF magnetron sputter deposition and pulsed laser deposition (PLD), by scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM). The ramps were fabricated by Ar ion beam etching using masks of standard photoresist and TiN. AFM-studies on ramps in sputter deposited films show a strong dependence, i.e. formation of facets and ridges, on the angle of incidence of the ion beam with respect to the substrate surface as well as the rotation angle with respect to the crystal axes of the substrate. Ramps in pulsed laser deposited films did not show this dependence. Furthermore, we studied the effect of an anneal step prior to the deposition of barrier layers (i.e. PrBu2CU3O7, SrTiO3, CeO2) on the ramp. First results show a recrystallization of the ramp surface, resulting in terraces and a non-homogeneous growth of the barrier material on top of it. The thickness variations, for thin layers of barrier material, can even become much larger than expected from the amount of deposited material and are dependent on the deposition and anneal conditions. HREM studies show a well defined interface between barrier layer and electrodes. The angle of the ramp depends on the etch rate of the mask and REBCO, and on the angle of incidence of the ion beam. TiN has a much lower etch rate compared to photoresist, resulting in an angle of the ramp comparable to the angle of incidence, resulting in a low etching rate on the ramp. These results will lead to improved electrical characteristics of ramp-type junctions

Oxygen reduction in acid media on supported iron naphthalocyanine: Effect of isomer configuration and pyrolysis

O2 reduction in H2SO4 medium has been investigated on FeNPc impregnations on Norit BrX by the rotating disk electrode technique. Important differences in activity and stability were found between the 1,2- and 2,3-FeNPc isomers (pyrolysed or not). XPS analyses show, for the most inactive sample, strong demetallation and nitrogen losses. This phenomenon can be attributed to the differences in flexibility between the FeNPc isomers, which influences their stabilization on the substrate