© Jacek Dylag/Unsplash
02.01.2024

Who Finances the Welfare State?

Results from the WIFO Redistribution Study
According to the WIFO redistribution study, in Austria, the average balance between public benefits received and taxes paid is only negative in the top two tenths of the primary income distribution.

In 2019, 37 percent of the population were net contributors, 2 percent of whom were in the second and 22 percent in the top tenth of the distribution. The concentration of net payers in the top tenth results from the high concentration of market incomes.

It is important to note in interpreting these results that the balance does not capture all public benefits and taxes and that it originates from a complex interplay of horizontal, intertemporal, and vertical redistribution. Over the years analysed – 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2019 –, the proportion of net contributors and the ratio of the balance to market income remained largely stable.

Publications

WIFO-Monatsberichte
21.12.2023
Who Finances the Welfare State?
Results from the WIFO Redistribution Study
Download (PDF)
Finalization: December 2023
Specialist publication: WIFO-Monatsberichte
JEL-Codes: D30, D63, H20, H41, H50, I30
Study
23.10.2023
Redistribution by the State in Austria 2019 and Developments from 2005 to 2019
Download (PDF)
Finalization: October 2023
Contractor project: Federal Chancellery, Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Please contact

Mag. Marian Fink
Mag. Marian Fink
Labour Economics, Income and Social Security
+43 1 798 26 01 - 319 marian.fink@wifo.ac.at
Mag. Dr. Silvia Rocha-Akis
Mag. Dr. Silvia Rocha-Akis
Labour Economics, Income and Social Security
+43 1 798 26 01 - 259 silvia.rocha-akis@wifo.ac.at

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