Economics / 3. Financial relations

Kizyma T.A.

Ternopil national economic university, Ukraine

Tax burden of households: methodical approaches to determination

Problems of determination of the tax burden in Ukraine always were and continue to remain the object of intent attention from the side of many research workers. In particular, theoretical approaches in relation to determination and estimation of the tax burden are lighted up works of domestic scientists V. Andrushchenko, V. Vishnevskiy, I. Lunina, A. Sokolovska, V. Fedosov etc. However the special researches, devoted to the problems of determination of the tax burden of households, in Ukraine, unfortunately, are absent. The actuality of theme of our scientific research is conditioned by it.

Unfortunately, must establish circumstance that the existing in Ukraine method of calculation of the tax burden answers world requirements not fully. As a rule, the tax burden is more frequently all determined as part (in percents) of actual tax receipts to the budgets of all levels and off-budget having a special purpose funds in a gross domestic product:

, (1)

where: TB is the tax burden;

Rt is actual tax receipts to the budgets of all levels and off-budget having a special purpose funds;

GDP is a gross domestic product of country.

However much the index of part of the prepaid taxes in GDP (tax coefficient) does not give the complete and objective picture of the real tax burden and that is why, to our opinion, is not suitable for determination of priorities of effective tax policy in Ukraine and requires a subsequent correction.

Consider that there must be the represented sum of all charged extra in the numerator of index of the tax burden, but not prepaid in a budget and off-budget having a special purpose funds of taxes and obligatory fees, in fact on a payer not so much load of taxes which he paid already, because burden of tax payments which in obedience to a current legislation he must pay, influences really.

In our view, at the calculations of the tax burden of the use of GDP as a base index also is grounded not enough, as sets too high the actual size of incomes for taxation. At first, GDP synthesizes in itself all aggregate of profits in an economy, including depreciation which must not be the source of payment of taxes, in fact the economic setting consists in financing of charges on proceeding in threadbare property. Secondly, indirect taxes and payments on social security, which also can not be the source of payment of taxes, enter in the complement of GDP. Therefore the account of depreciation and indirect taxes in this base index foreseen reduces the real burden of taxes in relation to the profitable sources of their payment.

Because of the marked higher, as a base index for determination of the tax burden deem wise to use a national income (GDP, diminished on the size of depreciation decrees and indirect taxes).

Consequently, in the unfolded kind the specified formula will look like:

, (2)

where: TB is the tax burden;

Rt is actual tax receipts to the budgets of all levels and off-budget having a special purpose funds;

Dt is a debt on taxes and collections;

NI is a national income.

The tax burden on citizens is mainly associated only with a tax on the incomes of physical persons and other taxes, that population pays directly from the incomes. However much the real situation is some other. On the incomes of physical persons not only burdens the direct personal taxes but also indirect taxes, that populations pays, buying commodities and services in the suggested retail prices, carries out influence. The part of indirect taxes which are paid by a population as a basic eventual user, experts estimate on the average at the level of 60-70%.

Thus, for more exact estimation of the actual tax burden on the population it is more expedient to use a formula:

, (3)

where: TBp is the tax burden of citizens;

Rt is actual tax receipts from physical persons to the budgets of all levels and off-budget having a special purpose funds;

Dt is a debt of population on taxes and collections;

IT is a sum of indirect taxes;

Kit is a coefficient of part of indirect taxes, which is paid by a population (0,6-0,7);

MIp is money incomes of population (payment of labour, incomes from entrepreneurial activity, dividends, percents, rent, state social transferts and others like that).

Following the approaches marked higher, for the calculation of the tax burden of households suggest to use the following formula:

, (4)

where: TBh is the tax burden of household;

Rt - taxes to the budgets of all levels and payments are actually prepaid household members to the off-budget having a special purpose funds;

Dt is taxes and collections’ debt of household members;

IT is a sum of indirect taxes;

Kit is a coefficient of part of indirect taxes, which is paid by a population (0,6-0,7);

P is a quantity of population of country;

Khm is an amount of household members;

MIh is money incomes of household.

In the end, general tax burden of households is needed to take to the optimum parameters. As no developments of domestic scientists, which would touch this problem, in investigational by us sources we did not find, suggest to appeal to works of foreign research workers, which consider 27-28% the optimum top limit of the tax burden.

At establishment of the combined tax burden on payers is needed to remember about his lower limit (15-20%), in fact the level of taxation, below than it, can entail the substantial tax losses of budget.

Reducing the tax burden is necessary to do gradually and stage-by-stage, in fact the simultaneous, sharp diminishing of the combined tax burden will result only in the serious losses of running incomes of budgets and will not be instrumental in the proper implementation the state of the functions. Decline of the tax burden on the average on 2-3% in a year will allow an economy to adapt oneself without losses to the new terms and proportions of distributing of the combined public product.

It is necessary to optimize maximally the structure of the general tax burden (especially it touches extra charges on the fund of payment of labour), not to provoke the concealment of incomes taxpayers.

The estimation of the actual tax loading for the purpose an optimum must be conducted experts annually, and optimum parameters - determined not less than once on three years.