Elasticity of demand influenced tax revenues
Elasticity of demand influenced tax revenues
elastic
the elasticity of demand of the product taxed
the elasticity of demand of the product taxed
The elasticity of supply and demand determines how the tax burden is shared between consumers and producers. If demand is inelastic, consumers will bear a larger share of the tax burden, as they are less responsive to price changes. Conversely, if demand is elastic, producers will bear more of the tax burden, as consumers can easily reduce their quantity demanded in response to higher prices. Similarly, the elasticity of supply influences the distribution, with more elastic supply shifting the burden away from producers.
Tax incidence (the distribution of the tax burden among the buyers and sellers in a market) depends on the elasticity of demand and supply because elasticity measures the buyer and seller's willingness to leave the market when the prices of goods change. The more elastic demand/supply is, the more buyers/sellers will leave the market when the prices rise.Therefore, the tax burden falls more on the side of the market with the smaller elasticity, because a small elasticity means that more buyers/sellers remain in the market when the prices rise due to their being fewer available alternatives.
The elasticity of demand measures how responsive consumers are to price changes. In markets where demand is inelastic, consumers will continue to purchase relatively stable quantities despite tax increases, allowing governments to collect more revenue without significantly reducing sales. Conversely, in markets with elastic demand, higher taxes can lead to substantial decreases in quantity demanded, potentially resulting in lower overall tax revenue and negative impacts on businesses. Thus, understanding demand elasticity is crucial for policymakers when designing tax strategies.
It is a good way to get some insight of a particular demand. Demand functions are usually difficult to calculate, but elasticity is easier. The elasticity of demand shows the percentage change of the quantity demanded due to a one percent change in prices.For instance, the bigger this index is, the steeper is the reduction in demand of this product when the price rises. This index can be really useful for governments. If they want to tax a certain product, they'd better tax the more inelastic ones, because consumption will be reduced only a little.
If the demand is perfectly elastic in prices (that is, demand falls to zero if the price for consumers is raised even the slightest bit), then the entire tax incidence falls on the producer since the producer would rather face the entire tax burden than lose all his consumers. And if the demand is perfectly inelastic (doesn't change with change in commodity price) then the entire burden falls on the consumers. So higher the price elasticity of demand, higher would be the share of taxes borne by the producer. And higher the price elasticity of supply, lower the share borne by the producer, by similar logic.
Elasticity measures how responsive the quantity demanded or supplied is to changes in price. When demand is inelastic, consumers bear a greater burden of a tax because they are less sensitive to price changes and will continue purchasing despite higher costs. Conversely, if demand is elastic, producers absorb more of the tax burden since consumers will reduce their quantity demanded significantly in response to price increases. Thus, the distribution of the tax burden between consumers and producers depends on the relative elasticities of demand and supply.
Tax incidence refers to who actually pays the tax. Tax incidence can be divided into 1. formal incidence :the party liable to the tax 2. Informal incidence :party who actually pays the tax, The tax incidence is decided by the elasticity of demand and supply for a good or service.
Fiscal tax is when the government uses revenue collection to influence the economy. This influences the demand of economic activity.