The role of information in eliciting support for inheritance taxation

This paper uses a survey experiment embedded in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) for Luxembourg – a representative sample of the population aged 50 and above in the country – to show how provision of information influences elicited support for inheritance taxation. While support is low in generic, direct questions about inheritance taxation, support increases when respondents are asked to express views about linear tax rates with explicit tax exemption thresholds and when information is provided about how tax revenues will be used – especially if respondents are told revenues will be used to improve the quality of basic education. This information effect plays even in our setting in which the focus is on inheritances from parents to children. It is only relevant however for respondents who were initially opposed to the tax and does not affect strongly the proponents.