Taxes and National Income
Taxes Matter in National
Income: When we calculate national income, we must consider taxes
collected by the government, both direct and indirect.
- Direct Taxes:
(Income Tax, Corporate Tax, etc.)
- Examples in India:
Individual Income Tax, Corporate Income Tax (Corporate Tax), Dividend
Tax, Interest Tax.
- No Adjustment Needed:
Whether we calculate national income at Factor Cost or Market
Cost, we don't need to adjust for direct taxes.
- Why?
- Direct taxes are the same at both
Factor Cost and Market Cost.
- They are collected directly from
people's or companies' incomes.
- Indirect Taxes:
(Excise Duty, Sales Tax/VAT, Customs Duty, etc.)
- Examples in India:
Central Excise Duty (Cenvat), Customs Duty, Central Sales Tax (CST),
Sales Tax/Value Added Tax (VAT), State Excise Duty.
- Adjustment Needed for Factor Cost:
If we calculate national income at Factor Cost, we must deduct
the total amount of indirect taxes.
- No Adjustment Needed for Market Cost:
If we calculate at Market Cost, we do not deduct indirect
taxes.
- Why Deduct Indirect Taxes at Factor Cost?
(Avoid Double Counting):
- Indirect taxes get added twice if
we don't deduct them when using Factor Cost:
- First Addition:
People pay indirect taxes when they buy goods and services. They pay
from their disposable income. So, indirect taxes are already
included in the value of goods at market prices, which is derived
from disposable income.
- Second Addition:
Governments collect these indirect taxes as government revenue
(income). If we simply add up all incomes in the economy (including
government revenue from indirect taxes) without adjusting, we count the
indirect tax amount again.
- Source of Indirect Taxes:
Indirect taxes come from people's and companies' disposable income
when they buy things. The taxes then go to the government.
- Formula
for National Income at Factor Cost:
National Income at Factor Cost = National Income at Market Cost – Indirect Taxes
(In the text, it's written as: NNP at Factor Cost = NNP at Market Cost - Indirect Taxes. NNP stands for Net National Product, a measure of national income.)
- Market Cost Calculation - No Deduction
Needed: If we calculate national income directly
at Market Cost, we don't deduct indirect taxes. Also,
governments don't need to add their indirect tax income separately
in this method.
- Key Point:
The confusion about taxes in national income calculation only
happens when we are using Factor Cost, and it's specifically about indirect
taxes.
In Simple Words:
- Direct taxes
(like income tax) are taken directly from income and don't cause double
counting issues in national income.
- Indirect taxes
(like sales tax) are paid when you buy things. If we calculate national
income at Factor Cost, we have to remove indirect taxes to avoid
counting them twice (once when people pay them, and again when the
government gets them as revenue).
- If we calculate at Market Cost, we don't
deduct indirect taxes because they are already included in market prices.
Basically, we adjust for
indirect taxes when using Factor Cost to get a true picture of the factor
incomes (wages, rent, interest, profit) earned in producing goods and
services, without the distortion of indirect taxes