IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aei/journl/y2013id7018.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The tax treatment of the family

Author

Listed:
  • Sita Nataraj Slavov

    (American Enterprise Institute)

  • Aspen Gorry

Abstract

In two recent cases, the US Supreme Court considered constitutional challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act - which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriage - and to California's Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Regardless of the outcomes of these two cases, the controversy over same-sex marriage highlights an important tax policy question: should the US tax code treat people as families, as it currently does, or as individuals? This paper considers the costs and benefits of switching to a tax system based on individual, rather than family, income.

Suggested Citation

  • Sita Nataraj Slavov & Aspen Gorry, 2013. "The tax treatment of the family," AEI Economic Perspectives, American Enterprise Institute, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aei:journl:y:2013:id:7018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aei.org/publication/the-tax-treatment-of-the-family
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. LaLumia, Sara, 2008. "The effects of joint taxation of married couples on labor supply and non-wage income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1698-1719, July.
    2. Stephens, Melvin Jr & Ward-Batts, Jennifer, 2004. "The impact of separate taxation on the intra-household allocation of assets: evidence from the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1989-2007, August.
    3. Alberto Alesina & Andrea Ichino & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2011. "Gender-Based Taxation and the Division of Family Chores," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 1-40, May.
    4. James Alm & Leslie A. Whittington, 1999. "For Love or Money? The Impact of Income Taxes on Marriage," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(263), pages 297-316, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mizuki Komura, 2013. "Tax reform and endogenous gender bargaining power," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 175-192, June.
    2. Herwig Immervoll & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Nicolaj Verdelin, 2008. "An Evaluation of the Tax-Transfer Treatment of Married Couples in European Countries," EPRU Working Paper Series 08-03, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    3. Andrew Bauer & Alan Macnaughton & Anindya Sen, 2015. "Income splitting and anti-avoidance legislation: evidence from the Canadian “kiddie tax”," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(6), pages 909-931, December.
    4. John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2020. "The elasticity of taxable income of individuals in couples," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(4), pages 931-950, August.
    5. Felix Bierbrauer & Pierre Boyer & Andreas Peichl & Daniel Weishaar, 2023. "The Taxation of Couples," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 405, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2022. "Inequality measurement and tax/transfer policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 953-984, August.
    7. Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung (ed.), 2007. "Das Erreichte nicht verspielen. Jahresgutachten 2007/08 [The gains must not be squandered. Annual Report 2007/08]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 200708.
    8. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2018. "Optimal family taxation and income inequality," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(5), pages 1093-1128, October.
    9. Nadia Myohl, 2024. "Till taxes keep us apart? The impact of the marriage tax on the marriage rate," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(2), pages 552-592, April.
    10. Natalia Zinovyeva & Maryna Tverdostup, 2021. "Gender Identity, Coworking Spouses, and Relative Income within Households," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 258-284, October.
    11. André Decoster & Peter Haan, 2011. "A Switch from Joint to Individual Taxation Is Welfare Improving," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1175, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Schröder, Melanie & Schmitt, Norma & Heynemann, Britta & Brünn, Claudia, 2013. "Income Taxation and Labor Supply: An Experiment on Couple's Work Effort," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79735, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Clément Carbonnier, 2014. "The influence of taxes on employment of married women, evidence from the French joint income tax system," Working Papers hal-03460526, HAL.
    14. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2016. "Optimal Taxation, Income Inequality and the Household," CESifo Working Paper Series 5845, CESifo.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7lfmtcll678th9ldbi6o2t0onk is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Fisher, Hayley, 2011. "Marriage penalties, marriage, and cohabitation," Working Papers 2011-12, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    17. Chirvi, Malte, 2019. "Arbeiten Frauen aufgrund des Ehegattensplittings weniger? Eine empirische Untersuchung für Deutschland," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 241, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    18. Kalíšková, Klára, 2014. "Labor supply consequences of family taxation: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 234-244.
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7lfmtcll678th9ldbi6o2t0onk is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Fanny Dellinger, 2017. "Genderdifferenzierte Lenkungswirkungen des Abgabensystems," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60797, April.
    21. Klara Kaliskova, 2013. "Family Taxation and the Female Labor Supply: Evidence from the Czech Republic," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp496, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    22. Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Fanny Dellinger, 2018. "Genderdifferenzierte Lenkungswirkungen des Abgabensystems auf das Arbeitsangebot," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 91(2), pages 105-120, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aei:journl:y:2013:id:7018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dave Adams, CIO (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeiiius.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.