A taste for taxes: Minimizing distortions using political preferences

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2019
Volume: 180
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano (not in RePEc) Robbett, Andrea (Middlebury College) Spitzer, Matthew (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We conduct an experiment with online workers to assess whether the distortionary effect of a tax is sensitive to the ideological match between taxpayer and tax expenditures. We find that, among self-identified political moderates, the labor supply elasticity with respect to the net of tax wage is significantly smaller when individuals pay taxes to a favored government agency as compared to an unfavored one. While the tax has a significant distortionary effect in the latter case, with a point estimate for the labor supply elasticity of approximately 0.77, the elasticity point estimate is close to zero when taxes go to a favored agency. There is also an increase in total output for the matched population among moderates. There is no evidence that these effects hold for self-identified liberals or conservatives.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:180:y:2019:i:c:s0047272719301161
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29