What explains attitudes towards tax levels? A multi-tax comparison

Henrik Hammar, Sverker C. Jagers (sverker.jagers@pol.gu.se) and Katarina Nordblom (katarina.nordblom@economics.gu.se)
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Sverker C. Jagers: Department of Political Science, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 711, SE 405 30 Göteborg,Sweden

No 225, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: We analyse Swedes’ opinions about the level of taxation for eleven different taxes to see what taxes people are most reluctant to and why. The most unpopular tax is the real estate tax, while the corporate tax is the least unpopular. We find a strong self interest effect in attitudes, and for corrective taxes information increases acceptance. We perform two case studies of Swedish tax policy and find political economy reasons for the recent abolition of the gift and inheritance taxes, and weak support for the ongoing green tax shift from labour to environmental taxes.

Keywords: tax policy; real estate tax; inheritance tax; gift tax; payroll tax; income tax; vehicle tax; alcohol tax; CO2 tax on petrol and diesel; wealth tax; corporate tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H20 Q58 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2006-09-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published in Fiscal Studies, 2008, pages 523-543.

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