Do estate and gift taxes affect the timing of private transfers?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bernheim, BD; Lemke, RJ; Scholz, JK
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research; Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2003.11.004
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 2617-2634
• 关键词: estate tax; gift tax; private transfers

摘要

Proposals to alter the estate tax are contentious and have been considered largely in an empirical vacuum. This paper examines time series and cross-sectional variation to identify the effects of estate and gift taxation on the timing of private transfers. The analysis is based on data from the 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, and 2001 surveys of Consumer Finances. Legislative activity during this period reduced the tax disadvantage of bequests relative to gifts. Moreover, the magnitude of this reduction differed systematically across identifiable household categories. We find that households experiencing larger declines in the expected tax disadvantages of bequests reduced inter vivos transfers relative to households experiencing small declines in the tax disadvantages of bequests. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the timing of transfers is responsive to applicable gift and estate tax rates. The results also provide evidence of a systematic bequest motive for high-wealth households. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.