Abstract:
This study references Taiwan income tax statistics from 1977 to 2010 to discuss the changes in top income shares using Pareto interpolation, and to compare the changes in top incomes of Taiwan with those of western and Asian countries. The research results discover that the top income shares accumulated rapidly from the middle of 1990s to 2008, because of the dramatic increase of ”very top incomes.” Although the global financial crisis significantly influenced top incomes in Taiwan, the top income shares rebounded in 2010 and increased rapidly. The contribution of this study is the utilization of statistical data regarding individual income taxes by plotting income distributions of the top incomes that differ from that of the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure.Keywords:
Income shares
Adjusted gross income
Comprehensive income
Net national income
Income in kind
Total personal income
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