Wealth Inequality, Family Background, and Estate Taxation

Wealth Inequality, Family Background, and Estate Taxation PDF Author: Mariacristina De Nardi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Income distribution
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
This paper provides two main contributions. First, it provides a new theory of wealth inequality that merges two forces generating inequality: bequests motives and inheritance of ability of across generations; and an earnings process that allows for more earnings risk for the richest. Second, it uses a calibrated framework to study the effects of changing estate taxation on inequality, aggregate capital accumulation and output, the economic advantage of being born to a given parental background, and welfare. Our calibrated model generates realistically skewed distributions for wealth, earnings, and bequests, and implies that parental background is a crucial determinant of one's expected lifetime utility. We find that increasing the estate tax rate would significantly reduce wealth concentration in the hands of the richest few, and would reduce the economic advantage of being born to a super-rich family, but also would lower aggregate capital and output. Lastly, it would also generate a significant welfare gain from the ex-ante standpoint of a newborn under the veil of ignorance.

Wealth Inequality, Family Background, and Estate Taxation

Wealth Inequality, Family Background, and Estate Taxation PDF Author: Mariacristina De Nardi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Income distribution
Languages : en
Pages : 47

Get Book Here

Book Description
This paper provides two main contributions. First, it provides a new theory of wealth inequality that merges two forces generating inequality: bequests motives and inheritance of ability of across generations; and an earnings process that allows for more earnings risk for the richest. Second, it uses a calibrated framework to study the effects of changing estate taxation on inequality, aggregate capital accumulation and output, the economic advantage of being born to a given parental background, and welfare. Our calibrated model generates realistically skewed distributions for wealth, earnings, and bequests, and implies that parental background is a crucial determinant of one's expected lifetime utility. We find that increasing the estate tax rate would significantly reduce wealth concentration in the hands of the richest few, and would reduce the economic advantage of being born to a super-rich family, but also would lower aggregate capital and output. Lastly, it would also generate a significant welfare gain from the ex-ante standpoint of a newborn under the veil of ignorance.

The Economics of the Estate Tax

The Economics of the Estate Tax PDF Author: United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


Inheritance and Wealth in America

Inheritance and Wealth in America PDF Author: Robert K. Miller Jr.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489919317
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Inheritance and Wealth in America is a superb collection of original essays, written in nontechnical language by experts in sociology, economics, anthropology, history, law, and other disciplines. Notable chapters provide - an outstanding interpretative history of inheritance in American legal thought - a critical review of the literature on the economics of inheritance at the household and societal levels - a superb history of Federal taxation of wealth transfers, and - a sociological examination of inheritance and its role in class reproduction and stratification. This groundbreaking work is of value to any researcher dealing with the transmission of wealth and privilege across generations.

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation PDF Author: William G. Gale
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815719861
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

The Federal Estate Tax

The Federal Estate Tax PDF Author: David Joulfaian
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026255111X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
A comprehensive and accessible account of the U.S. estate tax, examining its history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Governments have been levying some form of inheritance tax since the ancient Egyptians did so in the seventh century BC. In the United States, the federal government experimented with various forms of inheritance taxes, settling on an estate tax in 1916 and a gift tax in 1932. Despite this long history, there are few empirical studies of the federal estate tax. This book offers the first comprehensive look at U.S. estate and inheritance taxes, examining their history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Written by David Joulfaian, a veteran economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the book provides accessible accounts of such topics as changes in tax laws, issues of equity, the fiscal contribution of the estate tax, and its behavioral effects. Joulfaian traces the evolution of U.S. inheritance taxes from 1797 to the present, noting that the estate tax rate and base expanded through 1976, then began to decline. He describes the tax itself, explaining that it currently applies to estates and gifts in excess of $11.18 million, and outlines applicable deductions and credits. He sketches a profile of taxpayers and their beneficiaries; surveys the revenues from estate and gift taxes; and discusses the effect of estate taxation on labor decisions, saving and wealth accumulation, charitable giving, life insurance ownership, and other economic activities. Finally, he addresses criticisms of the estate tax and analyzes its shortcomings. Accompanying tables present a wealth of data gathered by Joulfaian in his research and not available elsewhere.

Wealth and Our Commonwealth

Wealth and Our Commonwealth PDF Author: William H. Gates
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807047194
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
More than a thousand individuals of high net worth rose up to protest the repeal of the estate tax-Newsweek tagged them the "billionaire backlash." The primary visionaries of that group, Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins, argue here that individual wealth is a product not only of hard work and smart choices but of the society that provides the fertile soil for succes. Weaving personal narratives, history, and plenty of solid economic sense, Gates and Collins make a sound and compelling case for estate tax reform, not repeal.

Effects of the Federal Estate Tax on Farms and Small Businesses

Effects of the Federal Estate Tax on Farms and Small Businesses PDF Author: United States. Congressional Budget Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Family farms
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


Inequality, Social Discounting and Estate Taxation

Inequality, Social Discounting and Estate Taxation PDF Author: Emmanuel Farhi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Inheritance and succession
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
To what degree should societies allow inequality to be inherited? What role should estate taxation play in shaping the intergenerational transmission of welfare? We explore these questions by modeling altruistically-linked individuals who experience privately observed taste or productivity shocks. Our positive economy is identical to models with infinite-lived individuals where efficiency requires immiseration: inequality grows without bound and everyone's consumption converges to zero. However, under an intergenerational interpretation, previous work only characterizes a particular set of Pareto-efficient allocations: those that value only the initial generation's welfare. We study other efficient allocations where the social welfare criterion values future generations directly, placing a positive weight on their welfare so that the effective social discount rate is lower than the private one. For any such difference in social and private discounting we find that consumption exhibits mean-reversion and that a steady-state, cross-sectional distribution for consumption and welfare exists, where no one is trapped at misery. The optimal allocation can then be implemented by a combination of income and estate taxation. We find that the optimal estate tax is progressive: fortunate parents face higher average marginal tax rates on their bequests. Keywords: Inequality, Altruism, Private Information, Immiseration, Social Discounting, Optimal Taxation, Estate Taxes, Dynamic Programming. JEL Classifications: C61, C62, D30, D63, D64, D82, H21, H23, H24, H43.

Death and Taxes

Death and Taxes PDF Author: Richard E. Wagner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Aunt Possum receives an unexpected Halloween visit from the pumpkin man.

Wealth in America

Wealth in America PDF Author: Lisa A. Keister
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521627511
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Utilizing existing data and new research methods, Keister examines househould wealth distribution from 1962 to 1995.