JOURNAL ARTICLE
Cite JOURNAL ARTICLE
Style
Format
The tax treatment of funded pensions
Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 120 (2000), Iss. 3 : pp. 415–443
1 Citations (CrossRef)
Additional Information
Article Details
Whitehouse, Edward
Cited By
-
Who Benefits from the Reform of Pension Taxation in Germany?*
Fehr, Hans
Jess, Heinrich
Fiscal Studies, Vol. 28 (2007), Iss. 1 P.73
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5890.2007.00048.x [Citations: 6]
Abstract
The tax treatment of pensions is a critical policy choice in the transition from a public sector, pay-as-you-go system to one in which all or part of pensions are provided through individual, privately managed pension accounts. A generous tax treatment will promote pension saving but may be costly in terms of revenues forgone and encourage tax avoidance. The distributional consequences may also be undesirable if higher income individuals are better able to take advantage of tax reliefs.
In countries with mature funded pension systems - such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States - pension funds are worth an average of 85 per cent of GDP. Private pensions account for a major part of privatesector savings flows, are an important supplier of capital to industry and play a large and growing role in providing retirement incomes. These figures alone mean that it is vital to give the tax treatment of pensions careful consideration.