IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v22y2015i4p604-634.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax treatment of bequests when donor benefits are discounted

Author

Listed:
  • Robin Boadway
  • Katherine Cuff

Abstract

Recent literature on bequest taxation has made a case for subsidizing bequests on efficiency grounds, with the rate of subsidy declining with the size of the bequest to equalize opportunities among inheritors. These results rely heavily on the fact that bequests benefit both the donor and the recipient, creating an externality that is not taken into account by donors. The double counting of the benefits of bequests is questionable on normative grounds. We study the consequences for bequest taxation of giving less than full social weight to the benefit to donors. We analyse a simple model of parents and children with different skills where parents differ in their preferences for bequests. The government implements nonlinear income taxes on both parents and children as well as a linear inheritance tax and gives differential linear bequest tax credits to donor parents based on income. The nonlinear income taxes take standard forms. The inheritance tax and bequest tax credits are of indeterminate absolute level and together determine the effective price of net bequests. This effective price plays both externality-correcting and redistributive roles. The optimal effective price will depend on the social weight given to donor benefits and the share of donors of a given skill type. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Robin Boadway & Katherine Cuff, 2015. "Tax treatment of bequests when donor benefits are discounted," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(4), pages 604-634, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:22:y:2015:i:4:p:604-634
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-015-9366-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10797-015-9366-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-015-9366-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Farhi & Iván Werning, 2010. "Progressive Estate Taxation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(2), pages 635-673.
    2. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "A Theory of Optimal Inheritance Taxation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(5), pages 1851-1886, September.
    3. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 2006. "Wealth transfer taxation: a survey of the theoretical literature," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 1107-1134, Elsevier.
    4. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies & Mirrlees, James (ed.), 2011. "Tax By Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553747.
    5. Emmanuel Farhi & Iván Werning, 2013. "Estate Taxation with Altruism Heterogeneity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 489-495, May.
    6. Johann K. Brunner & Susanne Pech, 2012. "Optimal Taxation of Bequests in a Model with Initial Wealth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(4), pages 1368-1392, December.
    7. Brunner Johann K. & Pech Susanne, 2012. "Optimal Taxation of Wealth Transfers When Bequests are Motivated by Joy of Giving," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, March.
    8. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00879813 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2013. "Incentive Effects of Inheritances and Optimal Estate Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 472-477, May.
    10. Kaplow, Louis, 1998. "Tax Policy and Gifts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 283-288, May.
    11. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Helmuth Cremer & Pierre Pestieau, 2011. "The Tax Treatment of Intergenerational Wealth Transfers ," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 57(2), pages 365-401, June.
    13. Oswald, Andrew J., 1983. "Altruism, jealousy and the theory of optimal non-linear taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 77-87, February.
    14. Frank, Robert H., 2008. "Should public policy respond to positional externalities?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(8-9), pages 1777-1786, August.
    15. Pauly, Mark V., 1973. "Income redistribution as a local public good," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 35-58, February.
    16. Lester C. Thurow, 1971. "The Income Distribution as a Pure Public Good," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 85(2), pages 327-336.
    17. Hochman, Harold M & Rodgers, James D, 1969. "Pareto Optimal Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 542-557, Part I Se.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zarko Kalamov & Marco Runkel, 2020. "Taxes on unhealthy food and externalities in the parental choice of children's diet," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 938-944, August.
    2. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "How Should Capital Be Taxed?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 812-846, September.
    3. Bastani, Spencer & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "How Should Capital Be Taxed? Theory and Evidence from Sweden," IZA Discussion Papers 11475, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "How should capital be taxed? The Swedish experience," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02878153, HAL.
    5. Philipp Krug, 2022. "Optimal Estate Taxation: More (about) Heterogeneity across Dynasties," Working Papers 217, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    6. Boadway,Robin & Cuff,Katherine, 2022. "Tax Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108949453, September.
    7. Janusz Kud³a & Robert Kruszewski & Maciej Dudek & Konrad Walczyk, 2023. "The impact of bequest taxation on savings and transfers," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 18(2), pages 333-365, June.

    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. Brunner Johann K., 2014. "Die Erbschaftsteuer – Bestandteil eines optimalen Steuersystems?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 199-218, October.
    2. Johann Brunner & Susanne Pech, 2013. "Taxing bequests and consumption in the steady state," Economics working papers 2013-15, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    3. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "How Should Capital Be Taxed?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 812-846, September.
    4. Zarko Kalamov & Marco Runkel, 2020. "Taxes on unhealthy food and externalities in the parental choice of children's diet," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(8), pages 938-944, August.
    5. Stuart Adam & Helen Miller, 2021. "The economic arguments for and against a wealth tax," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3-4), pages 457-483, September.
    6. Decerf,Benoit Marie A & Maniquet,François, 2021. "Fair Inheritance Taxation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9804, The World Bank.
    7. Katrine Jakobsen & Kristian Jakobsen & Henrik Kleven & Gabriel Zucman, 2020. "Wealth Taxation and Wealth Accumulation: Theory and Evidence From Denmark," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 329-388.
    8. Marie‐Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau, 2022. "Age‐related taxation of bequests in the presence of a dependency risk," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(1), pages 92-119, February.
    9. Esteban García-Miralles, 2017. "The crucial role of social welfare criteria for optimal inheritance taxation," Working Papers 1706, Banco de España.
    10. Paola Profeta & Simona Scabrosetti & Stanley Winer, 2014. "Wealth transfer taxation: an empirical investigation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 720-767, August.
    11. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2020. "Taxation and the Superrich," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 189-211, August.
    12. Monisankar Bishnu & Cagri S. Kumru & Arm Nakornthab, 2016. "Optimal Inheritance Tax under Temptation," Discussion Papers 16-06, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    13. Johann K. Brunner, 2012. "The Bequest Tax as Long-Term Care Insurance," CESifo Working Paper Series 3901, CESifo.
    14. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2013. "Incentive Effects of Inheritances and Optimal Estate Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 472-477, May.
    15. García-Miralles Esteban, 2020. "The Crucial Role of Social Welfare Criteria and Individual Heterogeneity for Optimal Inheritance Taxation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-16, April.
    16. Kindermann, Fabian & Mayr, Lukas & Sachs, Dominik, 2020. "Inheritance taxation and wealth effects on the labor supply of heirs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    17. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Pareto efficient taxation and expenditures: Pre- and re-distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 101-119.
    18. Belan Pascal & Moussault Erwan, 2020. "Inheritance Taxation in a Model with Intergenerational Time Transfers," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, January.
    19. Morten Nyborg Støstad & Frank Cowell, 2021. "Inequality as an Externality: Consequences for Tax Design," PSE Working Papers halshs-03495989, HAL.
    20. Kudła Janusz & Woźniak Rafał & Walczyk Konrad & Dudek Maciej & Kruszewski Robert, 2023. "Determinants of inheritance and gifts taxation in the European Union," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(3), pages 225-242, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bequest tax; Inheritance; Optimal income tax; H21; H23; H24;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:kap:itaxpf:v:22:y:2015:i:4:p:604-634. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.