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Did the Death of Australian Inheritance Taxes Affect Deaths?

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Listed:
  • Joshua S. Gans
  • Andrew Leigh

Abstract

In 1979, Australia abolished federal inheritance taxes. Using daily deaths data, we show that approximately 50 deaths were shifted from the week before the abolition to the week after (amounting to over half of those who would have been eligible to pay the tax). Our results imply that over the very short run, the death rate is highly elastic with respect to the inheritance tax rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua S. Gans & Andrew Leigh, 2006. "Did the Death of Australian Inheritance Taxes Affect Deaths?," CEPR Discussion Papers 530, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:530
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEPR/DP530.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gans, Joshua S. & Leigh, Andrew, 2009. "Born on the first of July: An (un)natural experiment in birth timing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 246-263, February.
    2. Joshua Gans & Andrew Leigh, 2009. "The millennium bub," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(14), pages 1467-1470.
    3. Wojciech Kopczuk & Joel Slemrod, 2003. "Dying to Save Taxes: Evidence from Estate-Tax Returns on the Death Elasticity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 256-265, May.
    4. Sjoquist, David L. & Walker, Mary Beth, 1995. "The Marriage Tax and the Rate and Timing of Marriage," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 48(4), pages 547-558, December.
    5. Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Amitabh Chandra, 1999. "Taxes and the Timing of Birth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(1), pages 161-177, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Choi Yun Jeong & Chen Joe & Sawada Yasuyuki, 2015. "Life Insurance and Suicide: Asymmetric Information Revisited," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1127-1149, July.
    2. Michael Neugart & Henry Ohlsson, 2013. "Economic incentives and the timing of births: evidence from the German parental benefit reform of 2007," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 87-108, January.
    3. Joshua Gans & Andrew Leigh, 2009. "The millennium bub," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(14), pages 1467-1470.
    4. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Eliason, M. & Ohlsson, H., 2013. "Timing of death and the repeal of the Swedish inheritance tax," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 113-123.
    6. Gans, Joshua S. & Leigh, Andrew, 2009. "Born on the first of July: An (un)natural experiment in birth timing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 246-263, February.
    7. Wiepking, Pamala & Madden, Kym & McDonald, Katie, 2010. "Leaving a legacy: Bequest giving in Australia," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 15-22.
    8. Schulkind, Lisa & Shapiro, Teny Maghakian, 2014. "What a difference a day makes: Quantifying the effects of birth timing manipulation on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 139-158.
    9. Eliason, Marcus & Ohlsson, Henry, 2008. "Living to save taxes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 340-343, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    behavioural responses to taxation; timing of deaths; estate tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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