Would you civil union me?

Marion Leturcq

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: Although the tax system is not marriage neutral in many countries, it has been found only slightly significant in determining marriage decision (Buffeteau and Echevin, 2003; Alm and Whittington, 1995). This paper tests if the tax system could alter the decision to contract a civil union, which is a less binding marital contract. In France, since 1999, couples can either contract a marriage or a civil union (pacs). I assess the impact of taxation on the decision to contract a pacs using a difference-in-differences evaluation of the 2005 reform of income taxation of 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 suggest a positive and increasing impact of taxation on pacs rates, but also a change in the timing of pacs indicating that taxation alters the decision to contract a pacs. I find a slightly significant impact of taxation on the decision to break up a pacs.

Keywords: marriage; taxation; civil union; pacs; difference in difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00628642v1
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Related works:
Journal Article: 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? 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:hal:wpaper:halshs-00628642

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