Does a Progressive Wealth Tax Reduce Top Wealth Inequality? Evidence from Switzerland

Samira Marti, Isabel Martínez, Florian Scheuer and Isabel Z. Martínez
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Isabel Z. Martínez

No 10317, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last fifty years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends. Combining this with variation in cantonal wealth taxes, we then estimate an event study model to identify the dynamic effects of reforms to top wealth tax rates on the subsequent evolution of wealth concentration. Our results imply that a reduction in the top marginal wealth tax rate by 0.1 percentage points in-creases the top 1% (0.1%) wealth share by 0.9 (1.2) percentage points five years after the reform. This suggests that wealth tax cuts over the last 50 years explain roughly 18% (25%) of the increase in wealth concentration among the top 1% (0.1%).

Keywords: wealth tax; inequality; top wealth shares (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H23 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eur, nep-his, nep-pbe and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp10317.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Does a progressive wealth tax reduce top wealth inequality? Evidence from Switzerland (2023)
Working Paper: Does A Progressive Wealth Tax Reduce Top Wealth Inequality? Evidence From Switzerland (2023)
Working Paper: Does A Progressive Wealth Tax Reduce Top Wealth Inequality? Evidence From Switzerland (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10317

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klaus Wohlrabe ().