Inequalities between retirees and workers: an empirical model to capture the effect of taxation

French retirees benefit from specific taxation decreases. These tax exemptions imply considerable public tax expenditures that may be unjustifiable in terms of equity. In this article, we examine the adequacy of tax arrangements for French retirees in the current context of public pension systems reforms. The ratio of retired individuals' income per consumption unit to that of workers was approximately 0.89 in 2003 (0.96 including capital income). Moreover, pensioners' incomes are, on average, 102% of the average income of the population. Inter-cohort inequalities do not seem to justify these tax exemptions. Pensions are more equally distributed than income received from employment, and intra-cohort inequality does not seem to be a more convincing explanation. What is the impact of differential taxation on the inequality between retirees and workers? To answer this question, we propose several empirical models.