Resumo

DIAZ GONZALEZ, Eliseo. Wages tax and income distribution: Does the wages tax improve the income distribution among wage earners?. Economía UNAM [online]. 2007, vol.4, n.12, pp.42-59. ISSN 1665-952X.

This paper analyzes the effects of the Mexican wages and salaries tax on the income distribution comparing the Gini coefficient for the years 1996-2002, before and after taxes. To evaluate the horizontal equity, a model, derived from the theory of the optimal tax of Mirrlees, that estimates the income and consumption functions of the formal and informal workers is applied to the database obtained from the ENIGH (National Survey of Households Income and Expenditures). The author concludes that the redistribution potential of the tax is greater than the current results. Although its efficiency could be acceptable as far as the vertical equity is concerned, the tax is considerably inefficient in terms of the horizontal equity.