World Development Report 1984

eceipts for public purposes, including interest col- from data gathered by the World Bank from
lected on tax arrears and penalties collected on national sources but not adjusted. The estimates
nonpayment or late payment of taxes. Tax revenue for Sri Lanka are from the results of a joint project
is shown net of refunds and other corrective trans- of the World Bank and the Economic and Social
actions. Taxes on income, profit, and capital gain are Commission for Asia and the Pacific. The estitaxes
levied on the actual or presumptive net mates for Latin American countries other than
income of individuals, on the profits of enter- Mexico come from the results of two joint projects
prises, and on capital gains, whether realized on of the World Bank, one with the ILO, the other
land sales, securities, or other assets. Social Security with the Economic Commission for Latin America.
contributions include employers' and employees' Those for Mexico are the results from the 1977
social security contributions as well as those of Household Budget Survey.
self-employed and unemployed persons. Domestic Data for Australia, Belgium, the Federal Repubtaxes
on goods and services include general sales, lic of Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands,
turnover, or value added taxes, selective excises on the United Kingdom, and the United States are
goods, selective taxes on services, taxes on the use from national sources. Data for industrial market
of goods or property, and profits of fiscal monopo- economies other than those listed are from Sawyer
lies. Taxes on international trade and transactions 1976; the joint project of the ILO and the World
include import duties, export duties, profits of Bank; and the UN Survey of National Sources of
export or import marketing boards, transfers to Income Distribution Statistics, 1981.
government, exchange profits, and exchange Because the collection of data on income distritaxes.
Other taxes include employers' payroll or bution has not been systematically organized and
manpower taxes, taxes on property, and other integrated with the official statistical system in
taxes not allocable to other categories. many countries, estimates were typically derived
Current nontax revenue comprises all current gov- from surveys designed for other purposes, most
ernment revenue that is not a compulsory nonre- often consumer expenditure surveys, which also
payable payment for public purposes. Proceeds of collect some information on income. These surgrants
and borrowing, funds arising from the veys use a variety of income concepts and sample
repayment of previous lending by governments, designs. Furthermore, the coverage of many of
incurrence of liabilities, and proceeds from the sale these surveys is too limited to provide reliable
of capital assets are not included. nationwide estimates of income distribution.
The summary measures for the components of Thus, although the estimates shown are considcurrent
revenue are weighted by total current reve- ered the best available, they do not avoid all these
nue in current dollars; those for current revenue as problems and should be interpreted with extreme
a percentage of GNP are weighted by GNP in cur- caution.
rent dollars. The scope of the indicator is similarly limited.
Because households vary in size, a distribution in
Table 28. Income distribution which households are ranked according to per capita
household income rather than according to total
The data in this table refer to the distribution of household income is superior for many purposes.
total disposable household income accruing to per- The distinction is important because households
centile groups of households ranked by total with low per capita incomes frequently are large
household income. The distributions cover rural households whose total income may be relatively
and urban areas and refer to different years high. Information on the distribution of per capita
between 1966 and 1981. household income exists, however, for only a few
The estimates for developing economies in Asia countries. The World Bank Living Standards Meaand
Africa are from the results of a joint project of surement Study is developing procedures and
the World Bank and the International Labour applications that can assist countries in improving
Organisation (ILO). Those for Turkey, Hong Kong, their collection and analysis of data on income dis-
Malaysia, Israel, and the Republic of Korea are tribution.
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