Most countries give income-tax concessions to older people relative to people of working age. Some treat pension income more favourably than earnings, and most do not levy social security contributions on older people. These policies mean that the direct tax burden of older people is lower than that carried by people of working age. At an income equivalent to economy-wide average earnings, for example, the average tax burden (in the nine countries studied) is ten percentage points lower for pensioners than it is for workers. Therefore differences in taxes between pensioners and workers are an important way in which governments support people during their retirement. This is measured by the effect on net replacement rates: the value of pension benefits for a full-career worker relative to earnings when in work. On average, one fifth of the net replacement rate for a worker on average earnings is due to tax differentials rather than the pension system.

This paper provides the first ...