EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates
This paper examines whether the salience of a tax system affects equilibrium tax rates. I analyze how tolls change after toll facilities adopt electronic toll collection (ETC); drivers are substantially less aware of tolls paid electronically. I estimate that, in steady state, tolls are 20 to 40 per...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
MIT Press
2010
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58478 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6684 |
| _version_ | 1811086280136589312 |
|---|---|
| author | Finkelstein, Amy |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Finkelstein, Amy |
| author_sort | Finkelstein, Amy |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper examines whether the salience of a tax system affects equilibrium tax rates. I analyze how tolls change after toll facilities adopt electronic toll collection (ETC); drivers are substantially less aware of tolls paid electronically. I estimate that, in steady state, tolls are 20 to 40 percent higher than they would have been without ETC. Consistent with a salience-based explanation for this toll increase, I find that under ETC, driving becomes less elastic with respect to the toll and toll setting becomes less sensitive to the electoral calendar. Alternative explanations appear unlikely to be able to explain the findings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:23:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/58478 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:23:21Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | MIT Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/584782022-09-28T13:51:09Z EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates Finkelstein, Amy Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Finkelstein, Amy Finkelstein, Amy This paper examines whether the salience of a tax system affects equilibrium tax rates. I analyze how tolls change after toll facilities adopt electronic toll collection (ETC); drivers are substantially less aware of tolls paid electronically. I estimate that, in steady state, tolls are 20 to 40 percent higher than they would have been without ETC. Consistent with a salience-based explanation for this toll increase, I find that under ETC, driving becomes less elastic with respect to the toll and toll setting becomes less sensitive to the electoral calendar. Alternative explanations appear unlikely to be able to explain the findings. 2010-09-07T19:02:46Z 2010-09-07T19:02:46Z 2009-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0033-5533 1531-4650 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58478 Finkelstein, Amy. “E-ZTAX: Tax Salience and Tax Rates.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 124.3 (2009): 969-1010. © 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6684 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.3.969 Quarterly Journal of Economics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf MIT Press Publisher |
| spellingShingle | Finkelstein, Amy EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title | EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title_full | EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title_fullStr | EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title_full_unstemmed | EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title_short | EZ-Tax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates |
| title_sort | ez tax tax salience and tax rates |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58478 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6684 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT finkelsteinamy eztaxtaxsalienceandtaxrates |