ON TAXES AND WONDERS: COMPLETE FISCAL ACCOUNTS AT THE HOUSEHOLD LEVEL IN ISRAEL

What taxes do Israeli households pay, and how much? What is the net value of the transfers and services (such as allowances, public education, healthcare, etc.) provided by the State of Israel due to taxpayers? Which households receive more than they pay and vice versa? We estimate the distribution of the general government's income and expenditures at the household level by combining data from household Expenditure Surveys conducted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics with administrative data from numerous other sources. Based on the distribution of tax burden literature, we attribute to each household the amount of all taxes borne and of all services and transfers received from the general government. The research presented in this paper is far more comprehensive than previous studies in the scope of the taxes, services, and transfers studied. We account for NIS 405 billion in taxes and NIS 268 billion (NIS 435 billion in secondary analyses) in general government expenditure annually (in 2018 terms). Estimates include in-depth and cross-sectional analyses that were not previously possible—from the disaggregation of each specific tax payment and expenditure to all net transfers (total transfers and services minus taxes) by income decile, population group, family type, household structure, and more.