Replication Data for: Determinants of top personal income tax rates in 19 OECD countries, 1981–2018

This article aims to map the political economy of top personal income tax rate setting. A much-discussed driving factor of top rate setting is the corporate tax rate: governments may prefer to limit the differential between both rates in order to prevent tax-friendly saving of labour incomes inside corporations. Recent studies have highlighted several other driving factors, including budgetary pressure, partisan politics and societal fairness norms. I compare these and other potential determinants in the long run (1981–2018) by studying tax reforms of 226 cabinets in 19 advanced OECD countries using regression models. I find little evidence for the effects of economic, political and institutional factors; instead, the main determinant of the top rate is the corporate tax rate. As corporate tax rates are still declining under competitive pressure, the recently set minimum rate of 15% will not stop tax competition from constraining progressive income taxation.

本文旨在剖析最高个人所得税税率（top personal income tax rate）设定背后的政治经济逻辑。学界广受讨论的最高税率设定驱动因素之一为企业所得税税率（corporate tax rate）：各国政府往往倾向于缩小两类税率的差距，以此避免劳动收入在企业内部以享受税收优惠的方式进行储蓄。近期研究还指出了其他若干驱动因素，包括财政压力、党派政治与社会公平准则。本文基于1981年至2018年的长期样本，通过回归模型分析19个经合组织（OECD）发达国家的226届内阁的税制改革数据，对上述因素与其他潜在决定因素展开对比研究。研究结果显示，经济、政治与制度因素的影响并无显著实证支撑；相反，最高个人所得税税率的核心决定因素为企业所得税税率。鉴于企业所得税税率仍在税收竞争压力下持续走低，近期敲定的15%最低税率无法阻止税收竞争对累进所得税制的制约。