IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v52y2024i2p155-181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Property Tax Regressivity, the Case of Québec

Author

Listed:
  • Clément Carbonnier

Abstract

Three diverging interpretations of the property tax dominate the standard economic literature: the benefit view considers it meaningless to assess a distributive profile for the property tax; the capital-tax view assumes a progressive profile; and the excise-tax view assumes a regressive profile. This article discusses these views with theoretical and empirical arguments and defends the excise-tax view. Then, the distributive profile of the property tax in Québec is assessed thanks to a rich administrative database. The property tax appears very regressive. In addition, no general pattern appears depending on the size of the urban zones. At the opposite, property tax-to-income ratios depend steeply on the household composition, because of the economies of scale in housing consumption: they are larger for singles than couples (and even larger for aged singles) and lower for households with children than without children.

Suggested Citation

  • Clément Carbonnier, 2024. "Property Tax Regressivity, the Case of Québec," Public Finance Review, , vol. 52(2), pages 155-181, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:52:y:2024:i:2:p:155-181
    DOI: 10.1177/10911421231212354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10911421231212354
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10911421231212354?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elvire Guillaud & Matthew Olckers & Michaël Zemmour, 2020. "Four Levers of Redistribution: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Inequality Reduction," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 444-466, June.
    2. Marta Espasa & Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Toni Mora, 2017. "Is Decentralization Really Welfare Enhancing? Empirical Evidence from Survey Data (1994-2011)," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 189-219, May.
    3. Smith, Adam, 1977. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226763743 edited by Cannan, Edwin, September.
    4. Melville McMillan & Bev Dahlby, 2014. "Do Local Governments Need Alternative Sources of Tax Revenue? An Assessment of the Options for Alberta Cities," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 7(26), September.
    5. Elvire Guillaud & Matthew Olckers & Michaël Zemmour, 2020. "Four Levers of Redistribution: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Inequality Reduction," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02735358, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    2. Brady, David, 2022. "Income And Wealth As Salient Gradational Aspects Of Stratification," SocArXiv pny3t, Center for Open Science.
    3. Zabsonre Zacharia & Boukary Ouedraogo, 2023. "Influence of tax structures on income inequality in WAEMU countries [Influences des structures fiscales sur l'inégalité de revenus dans les pays de l'UEMOA]," Post-Print hal-04188709, HAL.
    4. Brzezinski, Michal, 2022. "Does income redistribution impede innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    5. Schröder Carsten & König Johannes & Fedorets Alexandra & Goebel Jan & Grabka Markus M. & Lüthen Holger & Metzing Maria & Schikora Felicitas & Liebig Stefan, 2020. "The economic research potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel study," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 335-371, September.
    6. Carbonnier Cl´ement, 2014. "The incidence of non-linear consumption taxes," Научный результат. Серия «Экономические исследования», CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет», issue 1, pages 5-18.
    7. Clément Carbonnier, 2021. "Family-Based Tax and Transfer System – Issues for Income Tax and Other Public Policies," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 526-527, pages 41-48.
    8. Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard & Chen Wang & Jinxian Wang, 2019. "Income Inequality and Fiscal Redistribution in 31 Countries After the Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(1), pages 119-148, March.
    9. Andreas P. Kyriacou & Oriol Roca-Sagalés, 2019. "Local Decentralization and the Quality of Public Services in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 755-776, September.
    10. Klaus Jaffé, 2015. "Visualizing the Invisible Hand of Markets: Simulating Complex Dynamic Economic Interactions," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 115-132, April.
    11. Gabriel Felbermayr, 2023. "Krieg mit anderen Mitteln," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(2), pages 111-122, February.
    12. Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers, 2011. "Introduction," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Brian Whitaker & Lindsey Godwin, 2013. "The Antecedents of Moral Imagination in the Workplace: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 61-73, April.
    14. Stefano Bosi & Claire Rogel Gaillard, 2018. "Biologie prédictive pour la santé. Regards croisés sur les enjeux socio-économiques et scientifiques chez l'Homme, les animaux et les plantes," Post-Print hal-02786221, HAL.
    15. Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Global Distributions of Capital and Labor Incomes: Capitalization of the Global Middle Class," SocArXiv 3g59r, Center for Open Science.
    16. Uhlig, Harald, 2012. "Economics and reality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 29-41.
    17. Alberto Batinti & Luca Andriani & Andrea Filippetti, 2019. "Local Government Fiscal Policy, Social Capital and Electoral Payoff: Evidence across Italian Municipalities," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(4), pages 503-526, November.
    18. Haitian Lu & Hongbo Pan & Chenying Zhang, 2015. "Political Connectedness and Court Outcomes: Evidence from Chinese Corporate Lawsuits," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4).
    19. Christopher Wimer & Zachary Parolin & Anny Fenton & Liana Fox & Christopher Jencks, 2020. "The Direct Effect of Taxes and Transfers on Changes in the U.S. Income Distribution, 1967–2015," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1833-1851, October.
    20. Konow, James & Earley, Joseph, 2008. "The Hedonistic Paradox: Is homo economicus happier," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 1-33, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:52:y:2024:i:2:p:155-181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.