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Trust in government and its effect on preferences for income redistribution and perceived tax burden

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  • Yamamura, Eiji

Abstract

This paper explores how a trust in government shared by neighbors is associated with individual preferences for income redistribution and individual perceptions regarding income tax burden. Three measures for trust in government are used: “trust in ministries and government agencies”, “trust in diet members”, and “trust in members of municipal councils”. After controlling for individual characteristics, the key findings are: (1) people are more likely to express preferences for income redistribution when trust in government in their residential area is high; (2) people are more likely to perceive their tax burden as low when trust in government in their residential area is high; and (3) when the sample is divided into high- and low-income earners, these results are only clearly observed for high-income earners and not low-income earners.

Suggested Citation

  • Yamamura, Eiji, 2012. "Trust in government and its effect on preferences for income redistribution and perceived tax burden," MPRA Paper 39833, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:39833
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trust in government; Redistribution; Perception of tax; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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