Question

What is meant by the term tax incidence? How does elasticity affect tax incidence? How does elasticity affect deadweight loss?

Answer 1

What Is a Tax Incidence?

Tax incidence (or incidence of tax) is an economic term for understanding the division of a tax burden between stakeholders, such as buyers and sellers or producers and consumers. Tax incidence can also be related to the price elasticity of supply and demand. When supply is more elastic than demand, the tax burden falls on the buyers. If demand is more elastic than supply, producers will bear the cost of the tax.

Price Elasticity and Tax Incidence

Price elasticity is a representation of how buyer activity changes in response to movements in the price of a good or service. In situations where the buyer is likely to continue purchasing a good or service regardless of a price change, the demand is said to be inelastic. When the price of the good or service profoundly impacts the level of demand, the demand is considered highly elastic.

Examples of inelastic goods or services can include gasoline and prescription medicines. The level of consumption across the economy remains steady with price changes. Elastic products are those whose demand is significantly affected by price. This group of products includes luxury goods, houses, and clothing.

The formula for determining the consumer's tax burden with "E" representing elasticity is as follows:

• E (supply) / (E (demand)) + E (supply)

The formula for determining the producer or supplier's tax burden with "E" representing elasticity is as follows:

• E (demand) / (E (demand) + E (supply))

How does elasticity affect deadweight loss?

The amount of the deadweight loss varies with both demand elasticity and supply elasticity. When either demand or supply is inelastic, then the deadweight loss of taxation is smaller, because the quantity bought or sold varies less with price. With perfect inelasticity, there is no deadweight loss. However, deadweight loss increases proportionately to the elasticity of either supply or demand.

Who suffers the tax burden also depends on elasticity. When supply is inelastic or demand is elastic, then the seller suffers the major tax burden, as can be seen in the orange-shaded areas in graphs #2 and #4, above; when supply is elastic or demand is inelastic, then the buyer pays most of the tax (Graphs #1 and #3). Of course, the effect of elasticity on the tax is no different from its effect on any other price change.