Same-Sex Marriage Recognition and Taxes: New Evidence about the Impact of Household Taxation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Friedberg, Leora; Isaac, Elliott
• 署名单位: University of Virginia; Tulane University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01176
• 发表日期: 2024-01
• 页码: 85-101
• 关键词: income-taxes; orientation; disparities; credit

摘要

The U.S. income tax code encourages marriage for some and discourages marriage for others, but same-sex couples were only recently exposed to these incentives. We estimate marriage responses by exploiting variation in the recognition of same-sex marriages for tax purposes versus earlier papers leveraging smaller changes. Using the American Community Survey, which reports cohabitation and marriage, we estimate a significant though very small marriage elasticity, with further analysis suggesting a higher (though still small) elasticity for low-earning households and in response to federal taxes specifically. Our estimates imply that the 2018 tax reform will increase marriage among high-earning cohabiting couples.