Will you civil union me? Taxation and civil unions in France

Marion Leturcq

Journal of Public Economics, 2012, vol. 96, issue 5, 541-552

Abstract: Although the tax system is not marriage neutral in many countries, it has been found to be only slightly significant in determining marriage decisions (Buffeteau and Echevin, 2003; Alm and Whittington, 1995). This paper tests whether the tax system can alter the decision to contract a civil union, which is less binding than a marital contract. In 1999, France introduced civil union (pacs) as an alternative legal union to marriage. I assess the impact of taxation on the decision to contract a pacs using a difference-in-differences evaluation of the 2005 income tax reform for newly pacsed couples. As the control group is contaminated by the reform, I propose an original estimation method based on a difference-in-differences-in-differences setting to estimate bounds to the impact of the reform. My results find a positive and increasing impact of taxation on pacs rates, but also a change in the timing of pacs unions suggesting that taxation alters the decision to contract a pacs. In addition, I find a slightly significant impact of taxation on the decision to terminate a pacs.

Keywords: Civil union; Taxation; Marriage; Pacs; Difference in difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H31 J12 K36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Will you civil union me? Taxation and civil unions in France (2012)
Working Paper: Would you civil union me? (2011)
Working Paper: Would you civil union me? (2011)
Working Paper: Would you civil union me? Civil unions and taxes in France: Did the reform of income taxation raise the rate of civil unions? (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:96:y:2012:i:5:p:541-552

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.02.008

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