Distributional Implications of Tax Relief on Voluntary Private Pensions in Spain* JOSÉ-IGNACIO ANTÓN†

Using taxation statistics, this paper explores the distributional implications of tax relief on private pensions in Spain in 2002. For this purpose, the author suggests a decomposition of the Kakwani index and its generalisations that allows us to distinguish between the regressivity caused by targeting and that due to benefits allocation among recipients. This paper finds that these tax incentives are regressive – mainly for the latter reason – and have negative although small distributional effects. Finally, this work presents several proposals for reform of the current system and simulates their implications for equity. I