Exemption Limit and Personal Income Tax-An International Comparison

An International Comparison Pulin B Nayak Pawan K Aggarwal This paper analyses the relationship between the exemption limit in personal income tax and per capita income for a group of 26 selected countries. Two alternative kinds of exemption limit are examined, viz, the actual exemption limit and the notional exemption limit, where the latter is defined to be the income level at which the marginal rate of 25 per cent becomes applicable. Norms for both the actual and notional exemption limits are devised using a determinants analysis on the basis of per capita income and the share of personal income tax in total revenue. It is seen that the actual exemption limit and the marginal tax rates at low levels of income are high in India, Pakistan, Jamaica and Spain and low in the US and Thailand.