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Title:
EuroPTax. Who Pays for the State? The Evolution of Personal Taxation in Postwar Europe, 1958-2007

Subject Categories:
Economic conditions and indicators - Economics
Economic history - History
International history - History
Social history - History

Depositor(s):
Lynch, F., University of Westminster. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages. Department of Social and Historical Studies

Principal Investigator(s):
Lynch, F., University of Westminster. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages. Department of Social and Historical Studies
Weingarten, N., University of Westminster. School of Informatics

Sponsor(s):
Economic and Social Research Council
Leverhulme Trust

Grant Number:
Economic and Social Research Council RES-000-22-1408 ; Levenhulme Trust F/07004/D

Other Acknowledgements:
John Geoffrey Walker, formerly Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, provided material for early years for the United Kingdom and France in JAVA code.

Abstract:
The massive expansion of the state in post-war Europe has rested on a greatly enlarged fiscal base, yet little is known about how that fiscal base has evolved. This is surprising in view of the fact that the questions of how governments get money, and from whom they get it, are seen to be two of the most important political issues faced in any modern political economy. While most studies of fiscal history try to provide answers to the first question by analyzing the ideological, political and administrative inputs to tax policy, the project's aim was to provide answers to the second question.

The project focused on the outcomes of tax policy; what different households across Western Europe have paid in taxes (income tax and social security contributions) at all points on the income scale since 1958. Since such information is not in the public domain we have used national tax rules and wage rates were used in order to infer what households with particular characteristics would have paid in direct taxes each year since 1958. Using the dynamic spreadsheet EuroPTax, details of the effective rates of income tax and social security contributions paid by different households in all the major European democracies since 1958 are provided for the first time as part of the project.


Main Topics:
The dynamic Excel spreadsheets, known as EuroPTax, enable the user to calculate the income tax at both national and local level as well as the social security contributions paid by a hypothetical household of a specified structure on a specified income, in one of nine different countries in Western Europe over the period 1958-2007. The countries included in EuroPTax are: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The calculations are derived from the national tax rules published by the following sources: HMSO (Board of Inland Revenue); Tolley's Income Tax; International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation; Coopers and Lybrand; OECD; and German Ministry of Finance. The wages used are multiples of the average production worker's wage found in National Year Books and in the International Labour Organisation. Social Security statistics are mainly derived from Social Security Programs throughout the world of the Social Security Administration of the United States Dept of Health Education and Welfare. In those countries where local taxation is levied, the rates used are the average for the country.

Coverage:
Time Period Covered: 01 January 1958-31 December 2007
Dates of Fieldwork: 01 January 2007-31 December 2009
Country: Belgium; Denmark; France; German Federal Republic; Ireland; Italy; Norway; Sweden; United Kingdom
Spatial Units: No spatial unit
Observation Units: Families/households
Kind of Data: Textual data; Numeric data; Alpha/numeric data

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:Cross-national
Population:Hypothetical households earning multiples of the average production worker's wage

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Time Series
Sampling Procedures: No sampling (total universe)
Method of Data Collection: Compilation or synthesis of existing material
Weighting: no weighting conducted

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Available to all users based in HE/FE institutions, for not-for-profit educational and research purposes only.
Availability: History Data Service, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: hds@essex.ac.uk

Date of Release:
First Edition: 9 February 2010

Copyright:
Frances Lynch. University of Westminster

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