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Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence

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Author Info
Raj Chetty
Adam Looney
Kory Kroft

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Abstract

A central assumption in public finance is that individuals optimize fully with respect to the incentives created by tax policies. In this paper, we test this assumption using two empirical strategies. First, we conducted an experiment at a grocery store where we posted tax-inclusive prices for 750 products subject to sales tax for a three week period. Using scanner data, we find that posting tax-inclusive prices reduced demand by roughly 8 percent among the treated products relative to control products and nearby control stores. Second, we find that state-level increases in excise taxes (which are included in posted prices) reduce aggregate alcohol consumption significantly more than increases in sales taxes (which are added at the register and hence less salient). Both sets of results indicate that tax salience affects behavioral responses. We propose a bounded rationality model to explain why salience matters, and show that it matches our evidence as well as several additional stylized facts. In the model, agents incur second-order (small) utility losses from ignoring some taxes, even though these taxes have first-order (large) effects on social welfare and government revenue. Using this theoretical framework, we develop elasticity-based formulas for the efficiency cost and incidence of commodity taxes when agents do not optimize fully.

A revised version of this paper with new theoretical results may be downloaded here:
http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~chetty/papers/taxsalience_aer.pdf

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13330.

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Date of creation: Aug 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13330

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
H0 - Public Economics - - General
J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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    Other versions:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Kristin Kiesel & Sofia Villas-Boas, 2008. "Another Nutritional Label--Experimenting with Grocery Store Shelf Labels and Consumer Choice--," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 1060, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rupert Sausgruber & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2008. "Tax Salience, Voting, and Deliberation," Discussion Papers 08-21, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and taxation: theory and evidence," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2009-11, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Gallagher, Kelly Sims & Muehlegger, Erich, 2008. "Giving Green to Get Green: Incentives and Consumer Adoption of Hybrid Vehicle Technology," Working Paper Series rwp08-009, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
  5. Jon Bakija & Bradley Heim, 2008. "How Does Charitable Giving Respond to Incentives and Income? Dynamic Panel Estimates Accounting for Predictable Changes in Taxation," NBER Working Papers 14237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. B. Douglas Bernheim, 2008. "Behavioral Welfare Economics," NBER Working Papers 14622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Gilbert Metcalf & David Weisbach, 2008. "The Design of a Carbon Tax," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0727, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Hui Shan, 2008. "Property taxes and elderly mobility," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2008-50, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  9. Raj Chetty & Emmanuel Saez, 2009. "Teaching the Tax Code: Earnings Responses to an Experiment with EITC Recipients," NBER Working Papers 14836, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Raj Chetty, 2009. "The Simple Economics of Salience and Taxation," NBER Working Papers 15246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. B. Douglas Bernheim & Antonio Rangel, 2008. "Beyond Revealed Preference: Choice Theoretic Foundations for Behavioral Welfare Economics," NBER Working Papers 13737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Michael D. Grubb & Paul Oyer, 2008. "Who Benefits from Tax-Advantaged Employee Benefits?: Evidence from University Parking," NBER Working Papers 14062, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. B. Douglas Bernheim, 2008. "On the Potential of Neuroeconomics: A Critical (but Hopeful) Appraisal," NBER Working Papers 13954, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Michael Smart, 2007. "Lessons in Harmony: What Experience in the Atlantic Provinces Shows About the Benefits of a Harmonized Sales Tax," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 253, July. [Downloadable!]
  15. Marion, Justin & Muehlegger, Erich, 2007. "Measuring Illegal Activity and the Effects of Regulatory Innovation: A Study of Diesel Fuel Tax Evasion," Working Paper Series rwp07-026, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
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