Search

The reform to capital market in Chile in 2001 enacted, among other things, a capital gain tax exemption for stocks highly traded in stock markets. The goals of the reform were mainly to increase participation, depth and liquidity in the local stock market. However, it is not clear what the effect of a tax reduction is on stock prices because there exists two effects working on opposite directions. On the one hand, there exists a capitalization effect that produces an increase in prices. O the other hand, there exists a lock-in effect that leads a reduction in prices. To determine which of the two effects dominates is, therefore, an empirical question. This work contributes to answering this question, estimating for this purpose the effect on stock prices of the capital gains tax reform in Chile in 2001. Using a difference-in-difference estimator, the results show an average anticipated effect of around -15% on stock prices traded in the Santiago Stock Market. The Price elasticity with respect to the tax rate in the economic literature for similar tax reforms in other countries ranges between -0.20 and -0.27, higher in magnitud than the one found in this study which ranges between -0.006 and -0.01. However, the estimated magnitude is quite close to the cases where the lock-in effect dominates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En este trabajo se estiman los efectos distributivos de la eliminación del tratamiento diferencial de ingresos empresariales respecto de los ingresos individuales en el sistema tributario chileno, así como de eliminar la principal exención vigente en el impuesto al ingreso de las personas: la del ahorro previsional voluntario. En cuanto a esta exención, los resultados muestran que si bien a quienes favorece son mayoritariamente personas de más altos ingresos, su eliminación no aumenta la progresividad del impuesto al ingreso. En el caso de la eliminación del tratamiento tributario favorable a los ingresos corporativos, los efectos distributivos son importantes en magnitud y el impuesto al ingreso se hace significativamente más progresivo. En general, los resultados evidencian que el impuesto al ingreso en Chile es menos progresivo que lo que parece y que hay espacio para que tenga un papel redistributivo relevante en la disminución de la desigualdad en el ingreso. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gasoline taxes usually represent a large fraction of the final price of gasoline paid by consumers. As a result, when gasoline prices increase too much public pressure builds to reduce or even eliminate gasoline taxes, which implicitly assumes these taxes are fully passed on to final consumers. However, there exist few empirical studies about the incidence of gasoline taxes, especially for developing countries. Using monthly data for the period 2000-2011, this work contributes to the literature providing empirical evidence about the gasoline tax incidence on prices in Chile. The results show a tax pass-through ranging between 100% and 120% in the wholesale markets of 93 and 97 octane unleaded gasoline, while in retail markets the tax pass-through rate is 110% and 100%, respectively. Therefore, gasoline taxes in Chile are more than fully borne by consumers, which is a result consistent with the existence of some degree of market power in gasoline markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Publicos is the property of Centro de Estudios Publicos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)