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Estimated impacts of VAT rate changes on households: comparison of two different scenarios from 2013
Janský, Petr
On November 7, 2012, the Chamber of Deputies passed the so-called stabilization package proposed by the government, which includes a hike of the VAT rate by 1 percentage point starting from the following year, hence the reduced and basic rates will increase to 15 and 21 percentages, respectively. This study presents a projection of the impacts of this bill and compares them to the current legislation, which unifies the VAT rates to 17.5%. The methodology underlying these projections is derived from an earlier IDEA Policy Study on “How Would The Tax Changes Impact Households and Public Budgets” published on February 24, 2011.
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The Commitment to Development Index for the Czech Republic
Janský, Petr ; Řehořová, Z.
This paper evaluates the Czech Republic’s development friendliness towards developing countries and presents the first application of the Commitment to Development Index methodology for the Czech Republic. The Commitment to Development Index, published annually by the Center for Global Development for 22 developed countries, views the approach of developed to developing countries in a complex way and, for example, considers development aid as only one of its seven components. The other six components are trade, investment, migration, environment, security, and technology. The results reveal that the Czech Republic does relatively well in the environment and trade components, but not so well in the development aid and security component. The total results put the Czech Republic at 20th place out of 23 countries, which is below all the other evaluated member states of the European Union.
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Czech aid to developing countries: not only financial development cooperation
Janský, Petr ; Řehořová, Z.
The study describes the Czech Republic’s performance in terms of aid efforts to developing countries in comparison with other developed countries. For the first time, the authors apply a time-proven methodology of the Center for Global Development think tank in Washington called “Commitment to Development Index”. The Czech Republic ranks in 20th position out of 23 evaluated countries, so according to this index, we have a great potential for improvement. The study is firm and foremost showing that developed countries, such as the Czech Republic, can help through other means then simply financial development collaboration. Strategic decisions of governments and companies in areas such as international trade or migration often have a great impact on citizens of developing countries. The Index shows that compared to countries at the top – Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands – the Czech Republic is mostly behind in the area of development and safety collaboration; on the other hand, it excels in international trade and environmental issues. The Czech Republic’s results in investment, migration and technologies are slightly below average. Even in times of cuts in Czech public budgets there is a room for improvement in terms of aid to developing countries. It could often be much more acceptable for the Czech republic, and much more beneficial for developing countries, if we changed the status quo of our public policies, rather than simply increased financial aid to developing countries.
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What if the government does not valorize pensions? Preliminary estimates of impacts on relative poverty of pensioners in the Czech Republic
Münich, Daniel ; Janský, Petr
The meeting of economic ministers that took place on February 27, 2012 considered steps to reduce the state budget deficit. It has been announced that: “... with regards to expenses reduction changes in valorization of pensions are considered, including the proposal to temporarily freeze pensions for two or three years.” Admittedly, proposals of this kind should always be accompanied by an impact assessment for relevant groups of people, however, they seldom do. The purpose of this study is to do that. The study quantifies the impact of lower pension valorization on the relative poverty rate of elder population. Even temporary reduction of the pension valorization rate could, in some pensioners’ households, result in a substantial growth of relative poverty. The estimates are based on data from the Czech Statistical Office SILC survey. The impacts of lower pension valorization vary distinctively according to different types of pensioners’ households. The study predicts that in the mean scenario, the ratio of people living below relative poverty level in households where at least one member is over 61 and receives a pension, will increase from today’s 3.6 to 5 percent. For pensioners over the age of 64 and living alone, and primarily in the case of women, a more significant increase can be expected from 13 to 20.8 percent. The impact of lower pension valorization would be noticeably less acute in the case of pensioners living together, those with additional income or those living in households with more members. Even if the pension valorization measures under consideration were to be implemented, the Czech Republic would still be one of the countries with the lowest relative poverty rate amongst its elder population.
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