New evidence on taxes and portfolio choice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Alan, Sule; Atalay, Kadir; Crossley, Thomas F.; Jeon, Sung-Hee
• 署名单位: University of Cambridge; University of Cambridge; University of New South Wales Sydney; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of Melbourne
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.09.002
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 813-823
• 关键词: Household portfolio choice; taxes

摘要

Identifying the effect of differential taxation on portfolio allocation requires exogenous variation in marginal tax rates. Marginal tax rates vary with income, but income surely affects portfolio choice directly. In systems of individual taxation - like Canada's - couples with the same household income can face different effective tax rates on capital income when labor income is distributed differently within households. Using this source of variation we find portfolio responses to taxation among more affluent households. The estimated effects are statistically significant but economically modest. In a placebo test, using data from the U.S. (which has joint taxation), we find no effect of the intra-household distribution of labor income on portfolios. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.