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Salience of Inherited Wealth and the Support for Inheritance Taxation

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  • Spencer Bastani
  • Daniel Waldenström

Abstract

We study how attitudes to inheritance taxation are influenced by information about the role of inherited wealth in society. Using a randomized experiment in a register-linked Swedish survey, we find that informing individuals about the large aggregate importance of inherited wealth and its link to inequality of opportunity significantly increases the support for inheritance taxation. The effect is almost uniform across socio-economic groups and survives a battery of robustness tests. Changes in the perceived economic importance of inherited wealth and altered views on whether luck matters most for economic success appear to be the main driving factors behind the treatment effect. Our findings suggest that the low salience of inherited wealth could be one explanation behind the relatively marginalized role of inheritance taxation in developed economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2019. "Salience of Inherited Wealth and the Support for Inheritance Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 7482, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7482
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    1. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 482-513, July.
    2. Nekoei, Arash & Seim, David, 2018. "How do Inheritances Shape Wealth Inequality? Theory and Evidence from Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 13199, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Waldenström, Daniel, 2017. "Wealth-Income Ratios in a Small, Developing Economy: Sweden, 1810–2014," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 285-313, March.
    4. Bastani, Spencer & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "How Should Capital Be Taxed? Theory and Evidence from Sweden," IZA Discussion Papers 11475, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Daniel Waldenström, 2016. "The national wealth of Sweden, 1810--2014," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 64(1), pages 36-54, March.
    6. Thomas Piketty, 2011. "On the Long-Run Evolution of Inheritance: France 1820--2050," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1071-1131.
    7. Jacob Lundberg & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Wealth Inequality in Sweden: What can we Learn from Capitalized Income Tax Data?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 517-541, September.
    8. Elinder, Mikael & Erixson, Oscar & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Inheritance and wealth inequality: Evidence from population registers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 17-30.
    9. Magnus Henrekson & Daniel Waldenström, 2016. "Inheritance taxation in Sweden, 1885–2004: the role of ideology, family firms, and tax avoidance," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(4), pages 1228-1254, November.
    10. Henrik Hammar & Sverker C. Jagers & Katarina Nordblom, 2008. "Attitudes towards Tax Levels: A Multi-Tax Comparison," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 523-543, December.
    11. Simon Halphen Boserup & Wojciech Kopczuk & Claus Thustrup Kreiner, 2018. "Born with a Silver Spoon? Danish Evidence on Wealth Inequality in Childhood," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 514-544, July.
    12. Wolff, Edward N., 2015. "Inheriting Wealth in America: Future Boom or Bust?," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199353958.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Morgan & Pedro Carvalho Junior, 2021. "Taxing wealth: general principles, international perspectives and lessons for Brazil," Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Center of Political Economy, vol. 41(1), pages 44-64.
    2. Blesse, Sebastian & Buhlmann, Florian & Doerrenberg, Philipp, 2019. "Do people really want a simple tax system? Evidence on preferences towards income tax simplification," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-058, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Andreas THIEMANN & Diana OGNYANOVA & Edlira NARAZANI & Balazs PALVOLGYI & Athena Kalyva & Alexander LEODOLTER, 2021. "Shifting the Tax Burden away from Labour towards Inheritances and Gifts – Simulation results for Germany," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2021-16, Joint Research Centre.
    4. Jesse Bricker & Sarena Goodman & Alice Henriques Volz & Kevin B. Moore, 2021. "A Wealth of Information: Augmenting the Survey of Consumer Finances to Characterize the Full U.S. Wealth Distribution," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-053, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Campos-Vazquez, Raymundo M. & Krozer, Alice & Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora A. & de la Torre, Rodolfo & Velez-Grajales, Roberto, 2022. "Perceptions of inequality and social mobility in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Fehr, Dietmar & Müller, Daniel & Preuss, Marcel, 2024. "Social mobility perceptions and inequality acceptance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 366-384.
    7. Krenek Alexander & Schratzenstaller Margit, 2022. "A Harmonized Net Wealth Tax in the European Union," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 629-668, December.
    8. Alexander Krenek & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Klaus Grünberger & Andreas Thiemann, 2021. "INTAXMOD – Inheritance and Gift Taxation in the Context of Ageing," WIFO Working Papers 645, WIFO.
    9. Nicolas Albacete & Pirmin Fessler & Peter Lindner, 2022. "The Wealth Distribution and Redistributive Preferences: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment (Nicolás Albacete, Pirmin Fessler, Peter Lindner)," Working Papers 239, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    10. Chirvi, Malte & Schneider, Cornelius, 2019. "Stated preferences for capital taxation - tax design, misinformation and the role of partisanship," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 242, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital taxation; tax attitudes; equality of opportunity; randomized experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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