Measuring Effective Tax Rates on Human Capital: The Canadian Case

Kirk A. Collins and James Davies
Additional contact information
Kirk A. Collins: University of Ottawa

No 20025, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers from University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impacts of a wide range of tax provisions on the incentive to invest in human capital, and shows how these effects can be quantified using effective tax rates, or ETRs. The approach is illustrated using data for Canada. For individuals with median earnings, ETRs on the human capital formed in first-degree university study are sizeable, although not as large as for physical capital in Canada. When the expenditure side and its direct subsidies are also taken into account, the net effective tax rate on human capital becomes negative. The taxation of human capital is far from uniform. ETRs vary by income level, gender, part-time vs. full-time study, whether students have loans, number of dependants, and use of sheltered savings plans. Workers at higher percentile levels of the earnings distribution throughout life may face ETRs substantially higher than those for low-income workers, as a result of progressive income taxation.

Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=economicsepri_wp (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwo:epuwoc:20025

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://economics.uw ... itting_ordering.html
The price is Paper copy available by mail at a cost of $10.00 Canadian each.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers from University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Economic Policy Research Institute, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C2.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().