12 C E N T E R F O R WO M E N ' S G LO B A L L E A D E R S H I P save part of their income. The result is that VAT payments account for a larger share of the income of lower-income households relative to high-income households. Incidence analysis looks at the tax contributions of different households in relation to their income. This analysis can be used to analyze tax contributions by household, either by looking at individual taxes (sales tax, VAT, income tax, etc.) or by amalgamating them all and determining what share of income goes in tax payments. This type of analysis can show how much low-income households pay in taxes, as a percentage of their income, relative to richer households, and how much is paid by households with differing gender characteristics (e.g., sex of head of household, sex of primary earner, etc.).17 Regressive taxation regimes, which require the poor and disadvantaged to pay more of their income than the rich, are questionable from the perspective of non-discrimination, while progressive tax regimes, which make more use if income and wealth taxes, are generally more able to mobilize domestic revenue equitably across households. The Implications of Higher Tax Rates for Economic Growth One common concern is that higher taxes on businesses and wealthy households will reduce investment and, hence, growth and employment. Such an impact could conceivably limit the generation of resources available for realizing economic and social rights. However, lower tax rates and various kinds of tax allowances may just be windfall gains for businesses and wealthy households who would have invested anyway. The primary reasons companies invest (e.g., market access, the availability of an educated labor force, strategic export platforms, or the presence of natural resources) may have little to do with tax levels. Mobilizing tax revenues to invest in economic and social infrastructure can do more to generate robust economic growth in the long-term. The existence of a highly-educated, productive workforce and quality economic infrastructure (e.g., utilities, transportation) can provide a much stronger incentive for the private sector to invest rather than lower taxes. Prosperity and high rates of tax to GDP certainly go together in the higher income countries that are members of the OECD. The average tax to GDP ratio in these countries rose from 30.1 percent in 1970 to 35.5 percent in 2000. In developing countries, the average tax ratio did not change very much, rising from 16.2 percent in the 1970s to 17.0 percent in 2000.18 Economic Cycles, Tax Policy, and Human Rights Obligations To uphold the principle of non-retrogression, any human rights-centered tax policy must be able to manage the ‘booms’ and ‘busts’ of modern capitalist economies in ways which reduce the negative consequences of drastic revenue shortfalls in downturns, which make difficult for states to maintain spending