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      Assessing the economic and social impacts of fiscal policies : Evidence from recent Malaysian tax adjustments

      research-article
      Saeed Solaymani
      Journal of Economic Studies
      Emerald Publishing Limited
      Poverty, Income inequality, Tax reform policy, CGE analysis, Economic growth, Malaysia, H2, H24, H25, O15

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          Abstract

          Purpose

          This study is the first attempt to analyze the effectiveness of recent two major tax policies, the reductions in personal and corporate income taxes and a rise in indirect tax and their combine, under both balanced and unbalanced budget conditions, on the economy and social aspects of Malaysia.

          Design/methodology/approach

          This study uses a computable general equilibrium model to investigate the impacts of all simulation scenarios on the key macro and micro indicators. Further, based on the 2012 Malaysia Household Income and Expenditure Survey, it uses a micro-data with a significant number of households (over 56,000 individuals) to analyze the impacts of tax policies on poverty and income inequality of Malaysian.

          Findings

          Simulation results show that, under the balanced budget condition, personal and corporate income tax reductions increase economic growth, household consumption, and investment, while the rise in indirect tax has adverse impacts on these variables. However, in the unbalanced budget condition, all tax policies, except indirect tax policy, reduce real GDP and investment in the economy and the indirect tax policy has insignificant impacts on all indicators. All policy reforms reallocate resources, especially labor, in the economy. In both budget conditions, the reductions in corporate and personal income taxes, particularly the corporate income tax, decrease poverty level of Malaysian households. Results also indicate that both tax policies are unable to influence income inequality in Malaysia.

          Social implications

          This study recommends that the government can increase its revenue by increasing indirect taxes as it does not have any impact on household welfare. In order to increase government revenues, initial increases in personal and corporate income taxes are suggested as they may have small negative impacts on the economy and welfare of households.

          Originality/value

          One of the significant features of this paper is that it examines both expansionary and contractionary fiscal policies in a country that government budget depends on oil exports. Since the literature on this subject is limited, particularly in the Malaysian context, the authors used Malaysia as a case to show how tax reform policies affect the economy and poverty level of such countries. Distinguishing the Malaysian households into 10 deciles and analyzing the distributional impacts of tax policies on these categories are the most significant contributions of this study.

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          Most cited references53

          • Record: found
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          Tax reform, fiscal decentralization, and regional economic growth: New evidence from China

          Zhou Yang (2016)
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            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            The effect of investment tax incentives: evidence from China’s value-added tax reform

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              The limited role of the personal income tax in developing countries

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                JES
                10.1108/JES
                Journal of Economic Studies
                JES
                Emerald Publishing Limited
                0144-3585
                03 March 2020
                05 May 2020
                : 47
                : 3
                : 671-694
                Affiliations
                [1] Department of Economics , Faculty of Law and Economics , Arak University , Arak, Iran
                Author notes
                Saeed Solaymani can be contacted at: saeedsolaymani@gmail.com; s-solaymani@araku.ac.ir
                Article
                641298 JES-09-2018-0334.pdf JES-09-2018-0334
                10.1108/JES-09-2018-0334
                0908ae3c-a59c-48cc-b6b5-338345b2c546
                © Emerald Publishing Limited
                History
                : 20 September 2018
                : 19 March 2019
                : 29 June 2019
                : 29 June 2019
                Page count
                appendices: 1, Figures: 0, Tables: 9, Equations: 54, References: 57, Pages: 24, Words: 8514
                Categories
                research-article, Research paper
                cat-ECO, Economics
                cat-MQE, Mathematical/quantitative economics
                Custom metadata
                Yes
                Yes
                Journal
                included

                Sociology,Social policy & Welfare,Education & Public policy,Urban studies,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Development studies
                Malaysia,Economic growth,CGE analysis,Tax reform policy,Income inequality,Poverty,O15,H25,H24,H2

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