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Who Bears the Burden of Local Taxes?

Author

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  • Brülhart, Marius
  • Danton, Jayson
  • Parchet, Raphael
  • Schläpfer, Jörg

Abstract

We study the incidence of local taxes on the welfare of heterogeneous residents. A structural model of imperfectly mobile households who differ in terms of family status and income allows us to back out local public-good preferences and household mobility. We calibrate the model with plausibly causal tax-base and housing-price elasticity estimates, based on municipality-level data for Switzerland. We find that households with children have stronger preferences for locally provided public goods and are less mobile than households without children. Combined with capitalization of taxes into housing prices and non-homothetic housing demand, this implies that the burden of local income taxes is mainly borne by above-median income households without children. Even absent a graduated rate schedule, the incidence of local income taxes is found to be more progressive than that of local property taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Brülhart, Marius & Danton, Jayson & Parchet, Raphael & Schläpfer, Jörg, 2022. "Who Bears the Burden of Local Taxes?," CEPR Discussion Papers 15826, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15826
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    Cited by:

    1. Marko Köthenbürger & Costanza Naguib & Christian Stettler & Michael Stimmelmayr, 2023. "Income Taxes and the Mobility of the Rich: Evidence from US and UK Households in Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 10376, CESifo.
    2. Löffler, Max & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "Property Taxation, Local Labor Markets and Rental Housing," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112967, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Gabriel Loumeau & Christian Stettler, 2021. "Fiscal Autonomy and Self-Determination," CESifo Working Paper Series 9445, CESifo.
    4. Martínez, Isabel Z., 2022. "Mobility responses to the establishment of a residential tax haven: Evidence from Switzerland," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax incidence; Local income taxes; Tax capitalization; Housing prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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