Wealth Transfer Taxation: A Survey of the Theoretical Litterature

[en] The purpose of this paper is to survey the theoretical literature on wealth transfer taxation. The focus is normative: we are looking at the design of an optimal tax structure from the standpoint of both equity and efficiency. The gist of this survey is that the optimal design crucially depends on the assumed bequest motives. Alternative bequest motives are thus analyzed either in isolation or combined. Even though there are as many results as models and as many models as combinations of bequest motives, the general conclusion is that the case for a zero taxation of inheritance is very weak.

Research Center/Unit :

CREPP - Centre de Recherche en Économie Publique et de la Population - ULiège

Disciplines :

Economic systems & public economics

Author, co-author :

Cremer, Helmuth; University of Toulouse

Pestieau, Pierre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC-Ecole de gestion > HEC-Ecole de gestion

Language :

English

Title :

Wealth Transfer Taxation: A Survey of the Theoretical Litterature

Publication date :

2006

Main work title :

Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity. Volume 2

Editor :

Kolm, Serge-Christophe

Mercier Ythier, Jean

Publisher :

Elsevier

Pages :

1108-1132

Available on ORBi :

since 23 March 2012

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