IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v15y1987i4p386-396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax Incentives and Charitable Giving: Evidence from New Survey Data

Author

Listed:
  • Eleanor Brown

Abstract

A new survey data set is used to obtain estimates of the tax price elasticity of personal giving to tax-deductible charitable causes. Like other surveys, the data here yield a large elasticity estimate, roughly two and a half for a representative household when Tobit estimation is used. One hypothesis for the discrepancy between such large estimates and values close to unity found in tax data is that there is an “itemization effect†reflecting nonrandom selection in tax data; the Florida data do not support this hypothesis. Another explanation for the discrepancy between tax-file-based and survey-based estimates is that the standard use of OLS rather than Tobit biases the elasticity more in survey data, where many people report zero gifts. For the Florida data, using OLS increases the estimated elasticity by about 30%; while this effect cannot explain why the Florida data produce such large elasticities, it suggests that OLS estimates in earlier studies should be used with caution.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleanor Brown, 1987. "Tax Incentives and Charitable Giving: Evidence from New Survey Data," Public Finance Review, , vol. 15(4), pages 386-396, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:15:y:1987:i:4:p:386-396
    DOI: 10.1177/109114218701500402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114218701500402
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114218701500402?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reece, William S & Zieschang, Kimberly D, 1985. "Consistent Estimation of the Impact of Tax Deductibility on the Level of Charitable Contributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(2), pages 271-293, March.
    2. Boskin, Michael J & Feldstein, Martin S, 1977. "Effects of the Charitable Deduction on Contributions by Low Income and Middle Income Households: Evidence from the National Survey of Philanthropy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 59(3), pages 351-354, August.
    3. Feldstein, Martin & Clotfelter, Charles, 1976. "Tax incentives and charitable contributions in the United States : A microeconometric analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1-2), pages 1-26.
    4. Clotfelter, Charles T., 1985. "Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226110486, September.
    5. Reece, William S, 1979. "Charitable Contributions: New Evidence on Household Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 142-151, March.
    6. Charles T. Clotfelter, 1985. "Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number clot85-1.
    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. Peter G. Backus & Nicky L. Grant, 2019. "How sensitive is the average taxpayer to changes in the tax-price of giving?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 317-356, April.
    2. Backus, Peter, 2010. "Is charity a homogeneous good?," Economic Research Papers 270773, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    3. Backus, Peter, 2010. "Is charity a homogeneous good?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 951, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Yen, Steven T. & Boxall, Peter C. & Adamowicz, Wiktor L., 1997. "An Econometric Analysis Of Donations For Environmental Conservation In Canada," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 22(2), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Steven T Yen & Ernest M Zampelli, 2017. "Charitable Contributions of Time and Money: A Multivariate Sample Selection Approach," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(1), pages 43-63, January.
    6. Apinunmahakul, Amornrat & Devlin, Rose Anne, 2004. "Charitable Giving and Charitable Gambling: An Empirical Investigation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 57(1), pages 67-88, March.

    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. Peter G. Backus & Nicky L. Grant, 2019. "How sensitive is the average taxpayer to changes in the tax-price of giving?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 317-356, April.
    2. Naomi E. Feldman, 2010. "Time Is Money: Choosing between Charitable Activities," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 103-130, February.
    3. Smith, Vincent H. & Kehoe, Michael R. & Cremer, Mary E., 1995. "The private provision of public goods: Altruism and voluntary giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 107-126, September.
    4. Timm Bönke & Nima Massarrat-Mashhadi & Christian Sielaff, 2013. "Charitable giving in the German welfare state: fiscal incentives and crowding out," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 39-58, January.
    5. Backus, Peter, 2010. "Is charity a homogeneous good?," Economic Research Papers 270773, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    6. Backus, Peter, 2010. "Is charity a homogeneous good?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 951, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    7. Borgloh, Sarah, 2008. "What Drives Giving in Extensive Welfare States? The Case of Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-123, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. David H. Eaton & Martin I. Milkman, 2004. "An Empirical Examination of the Factors that Influence the Mix of Cash and Oncash giving to Charity," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(6), pages 610-630, November.
    9. Gerald E. Auten & Holger Sieg & Charles T. Clotfelter, 2002. "Charitable Giving, Income, and Taxes: An Analysis of Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 371-382, March.
    10. Warren B. Hrung, 2004. "After‐Life Consumption and Charitable Giving," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 731-745, July.
    11. Martin S. Feldstein & Lawrence Lindsey, 1983. "Simulating Nonlinear Tax Rules and Nonstandard Behavior: An Application to the Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions," NBER Chapters, in: Behavioral Simulation Methods in Tax Policy Analysis, pages 139-172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Robert McClelland & Mary F. Kokoski, 1994. "Econometric Issues in the Analysis of Charitable Giving," Public Finance Review, , vol. 22(4), pages 498-517, October.
    13. Asatryan, Zareh & Joulfaian, David, 2022. "Taxes and Business Philanthropy in Armenia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 914-930.
    14. Erik Schokkaert & Luc Ootegem, 2000. "Preference Variation and Private Donations," International Economic Association Series, in: L.-A. Gérard-Varet & S.-C. Kolm & J. Mercier Ythier (ed.), The Economics of Reciprocity, Giving and Altruism, chapter 3, pages 78-95, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Bakija, Jon & Heim, Bradley T., 2011. "How Does Charitable Giving Respond to Incentives and Income? New Estimates From Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(2), pages 615-650, June.
    16. O'Neil, Cherie J. & Steinberg, Richard S. & Thompson, G. Rodney, 1996. "Reassessing the Tax-Favored Status of the Charitable Deduction for Gifts of Appreciated Assets," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(2), pages 215-33, June.
    17. Kimberley Scharf & Sarah Smith, 2015. "The price elasticity of charitable giving: does the form of tax relief matter?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 330-352, April.
    18. Priller, Eckhard & Sommerfeld, Jana, 2005. "Wer spendet in Deutschland? Eine sozialstrukturelle Analyse," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Inequality and Social Integration SP I 2005-202, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    19. O'Neil, Cherie J. & Steinberg, Richard S. & Thompson, G. Rodney, 1996. "Reassessing the Tax-Favored Status of the Charitable Deduction for Gifts of Appreciated Assets," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(2), pages 215-233, June.
    20. Ribar, David C. & Wilhelm, Mark O., 1995. "Charitable Contributions to International Relief and Development," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 48(2), pages 229-244, June.

    More about this item

    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:sae:pubfin:v:15:y:1987:i:4:p:386-396. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.