Income taxes and the timing of marital decisions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Alm, J; Whittington, LA
• 署名单位: Georgetown University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(96)01615-5
• 发表日期: 1997
• 页码: 219-240
• 关键词: Income taxation; marital decisions; marriage tax; timing

摘要

In this paper we estimate the impact of the federal individual income tax on the timing of marital decisions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the tax penalty often associated with marriage contributes to the decision of when to marry. Using household data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics, we estimate various models of the probability of delaying marriage as a function of the change in tax burden caused by marriage (as well as several other variables). We find that there is a significant positive relationship between the marriage penalty in a year and the probability of delaying marriage until the following year. The magnitude of the effect, however, is small.