Taxing Wealth: Evidence from Switzerland

Kurt Schmidheiny, Brülhart, Marius, Jonathan Gruber and Matthias Krapf
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Marius Brülhart

No 11342, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We study the effects of wealth taxation on reported wealth. Our analysis is based on data for Switzerland, which has the highest rate of annual wealth taxation in the developed world. While the wealth tax base is defined at the federal level, tax rates vary considerably across locations and over time. We use aggregate data on wealth holdings by canton and individual-level data for the canton of Bern. Our estimated behavioral elasticities substantially exceed those of the taxable income literature. We also find that taxpayers bunch below the tax threshold, that observed responses are driven by changes in wealth holdings rather than mobility, and that financial wealth is somewhat more responsive than non-financial wealth.

Keywords: Wealth taxation; Behavioral responses; Switzerland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H24 H31 H73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pbe and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (44)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxes: Evidence from Switzerland (2019)
Working Paper: Taxing Wealth: Evidence from Switzerland (2016)
Working Paper: Taxing Wealth: Evidence from Switzerland (2016)
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