Labor Supply Responses to Income Taxation among Older Couples: Evidence from a Canadian Reform

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Messacar, Derek
• 署名单位: Statistics Canada; Memorial University Newfoundland; Universite de Montreal; HEC Montreal
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20210075
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 228-258
• 关键词: marginal tax rates; taxable income; social-security; deadweight loss; elasticity; retirement; panel; earnings; BEHAVIOR; average

摘要

I assess whether the tax code is a viable policy lever for influencing labor supply among older workers. Specifically, using administrative data from Canada, I estimate the earnings responses to a unique reform that lowered tax burdens for couples with a pensioner, using quasi -experimental methods. I find that workers decrease labor supply as tax bills decline but do not respond to changes in marginal tax rates. Hence, while public policy often aims to keep people in the workforce longer, there are conflicting effects of offering tax advantage for seniors on work incentives. I consider implications of these results for age -dependent taxation. (JEL H24, H31, H55, J14, J22)