Inclusive Taxation and Tax Equity in Morocco: An Assessment Using the Kakwani Index Applied to Personal Income Tax and Value Added Tax

Abstract

Tax equity is a key objective of public policy because it influences both the fairness of the tax system and its ability to redistribute income while ensuring sustainable public revenues. In Morocco, recent tax reforms have sought to strengthen tax fairness through changes to the personal income tax (PIT) and the gradual restructuring of the value added tax (VAT). However, the coexistence of a progressive direct tax and a broad-based indirect tax raises important questions regarding their respective contributions to fiscal equity.

This study assesses the progressivity of Morocco's personal income tax and value added tax using the Kakwani index. The empirical analysis is based on microdata from the National Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (ENCDM 2013–2014), combined with the Moroccan tax parameters applicable in 2025. It relies on the pre-tax Gini coefficient and tax concentration coefficients to evaluate the contribution of each tax to vertical equity. The results show that the personal income tax is progressive, with a Kakwani index of +0.16, whereas the value added tax displays a negative Kakwani index (-0.17), indicating a regressive profile. Overall, the combined effect of both taxes remains only slightly progressive (+0.05), suggesting limited redistributive capacity. This study differs from Abdelkhalek and Boccanfuso (2023), who use a Shapley decomposition to assess the overall redistributive effects of taxes and subsidies, by isolating the intrinsic progressivity of personal income tax and value added tax through the Kakwani index. It therefore provides a direct comparison between direct and indirect taxation and highlights the implications of recent tax reforms for strengthening equity and broadening the tax base.

JEL Classification: H21; H22; H24; D31.

Paper type : Empirical Research