El efecto redistributivo del impuesto sobre la renta y las prestaciones monetarias ante el incremento de la desigualdad de rentas

Abstract

The Spanish Tax-Benefit system has traditionally been one of the least effective in achieving a better distribution of household incomes of those in place in the European Union. Its two main characteristics are a relevant weight of contributory pensions and an almost insignificant role of mean-tested transfers, particularly those family-related ones. Since the beginning of the recession in 2008, a variety of tax and benefit reforms have been undertaken mainly linked to austerity measures (rising taxes and cutting benefits) within a large fiscal consolidation policy even if also creating a minimum income transfer for the unemployed in a worst financial situation. This paper assesses the redistributive capacity of the different policies within the Spanish Tax-Benefit system before and after the beginning of the crisis in order to measure their role in protecting from an even larger growth of disposable income inequality as a consequence of the significant change in the structure of market incomes