Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300995 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17099
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the effects of information on attitudes towards inheritance taxation using survey experiments fielded in Germany. We show that information about tax allowances increases demand for higher taxes and shifts public opinion from favoring abolition to supporting the tax. Effects are primarily due to a prevalent underestimation of tax allowances and the alteration of people's expectations of being affected by such taxes. In contrast, information highlighting the increasing proportion of inherited wealth only negligibly affects policy demand. Our results suggest that pocketbook motives and misinformation may contribute to explaining the paradox of limited demand for inheritance taxation despite growing inequality concerns.
Subjects: 
capital taxation
equality of opportunity
inheritance tax
information
randomized experiment
JEL: 
H20
D72
D83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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