Clothing Exemptions and Sales Tax Regressivity
研究了服装免税对零售销售税累退性的影响，发现服装免税不仅没有减轻反而加剧了累退性，无论用年收入还是当前消费衡量支付能力。
Much of the opposition to retail sales taxation stems from its alleged regressivity. The belief that a flat rate sales tax must be regressive is based on cross-section data showing the ratio of consumption to income decreasing as income increases. Proponents of sales taxation contest the regressivity argument by indicating either that current income fails adequately to measure ability to pay, or with a judicious use of exemptions in the tax law, a sales levy can be nonregressive. Among the exemptions often found in states with sales taxes, those for food consumed off the premises, utilities, and clothing appear to be most directly aimed at alleviating sales tax regressivity. Other studies have shown that a food exemption does reduce the regressivity or increase the progressivity of a sales tax [1] [2] [3] [4] [5, Ch. 4]. With budget studies disclosing that outlays on utility services comprise a substantially larger percentage of expenditures by lower income classes, this exemption will also reduce the regressivity of a sales tax to some extent. The impact of clothing exemptions on sales tax regressivity is less clear. Indeed, available evidence suggests that excluding clothing expenditures from the tax base may not increase the progressivity of a sales tax [5, pp. 62, 64]. The purpose of this note is both to provide additional information and to demonstrate that clothing exemptions increase rather than decrease the regressivity of a retail sales tax. This result holds whether annual money income or current consumption as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is employed to measure ability to pay.