Disposable income
- country lists in disposable household and per capita income.
Disposable income is total personal income minus current income taxes.[1] In national accounts definitions, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income.[2] Subtracting personal outlays (which includes the major category of personal [or private] consumption expenditure) yields personal (or, private) savings, hence the income left after paying away all the taxes is referred to as disposable income.
Restated, consumption expenditure plus savings equals disposable income[3] after accounting for transfers such as payments to children in school or elderly parents’ living and care arrangements.[4]
The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is the fraction of a change in disposable income that is consumed. For example, if disposable income rises by $100, and $65 of that $100 is consumed, the MPC is 65%. Restated, the marginal propensity to save is 35%.
For the purposes of calculating the amount of income subject to garnishments, United States' federal law defines disposable income as an individual's compensation (including salary, overtime, bonuses, commission, and paid leave) after the deduction of health insurance premiums and any amounts required to be deducted by law. Amounts required to be deducted by law include federal, state, and local taxes, state unemployment and disability taxes, social security taxes, and other garnishments or levies, but does not include such deductions as voluntary retirement contributions and transportation deductions. Those deductions would be made only after calculating the amount of the garnishment or levy.[5] The definition of disposable income varies for the purpose of state and local garnishments and levies.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of OECD countries, the United States of America has the highest mean household disposable income,[6] and the country with the highest median disposable income is Switzerland.[7]
Meanings of disposable income
Disposable income can be understood as:
- National disposable income of a country: The national income minus current transfers (current taxes on income, wealth etc., social contributions, social benefits and other current transfers), plus current transfers receivable by resident units from the rest of the world.[8]
- Disposable personal (or family/household) income: The income that individuals or households have for their spending.
Discretionary income
Discretionary income is disposable income (after-tax income), minus all payments that are necessary to meet current bills. It is total personal income after subtracting taxes and minimal survival expenses (such as food, medicine, rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, transportation, property maintenance, child support, etc.) to maintain a certain standard of living.[9] It is the amount of an individual's income available for spending after the essentials have been taken care of:
- Discretionary income = gross income – taxes – all compelled payments (bills)
Despite the definitions above, disposable income is often incorrectly used to denote discretionary income. For example, people commonly refer to disposable income as the amount of "play money" left to spend or save. The Consumer Leverage Ratio is the expression of the ratio of total household debt to disposable income.
References
- ^ "Income Data Quality Issues in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-14. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ portal.wsiz.rzeszow.pl/plik.aspx?id=12166
- ^ "Research Publications". www.parl.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ "31 CFR 285.11". Legal Information Institute. Cornell University. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
- ^ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. "Income". OECD Better Life Index. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
In the United States, the average household net adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 41 071 a year, much higher than the OECD average of USD 29 016 and the highest figure in the OECD.
- ^ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. "Median Disposable Income". Income Distribution Database. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Glossary:National disposable income". Eurostat. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ Linden, Fabian (1998). "A Marketer's Guide to Discretionary Income (abstract)". US Department of Education. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
External links
- A simple discretionary income calculator—even though this says it's measuring "disposable income," using the economist's language, it's discretionary income.
- Eurostat, News Release No. 60/2010, Household Savings and Disposable Income, 30 April 2010
- Eurostat, Statistics Explained, Glossary article: National Disposable Income
- OECD Disposable income statistics
- Google – public data: GDP and Personal Income of the U.S. (annual): Disposal Personal Income
- Google – public data: GDP and Personal Income of the U.S. (annual): Disposal Personal Income per capita
