Learn › Economics glossary › When markets fail

Economics glossary · When markets fail

Tax incidence

What tax incidence means in economics, with an example and a question to test yourself.

Definition
Tax incidence
Tax incidence is the way the burden of a tax is divided between the consumers and the producers of the taxed good.
Not to be confused with: Tax wedge
The tax wedge is the gap a tax opens between the price consumers pay and the price producers receive, equal to the tax per unit.
Test yourself

What is the difference between tax incidence and tax wedge?

Learn it properly: the module

Related terms