Welfare state structure, inequality, and public attitudes towards progressive taxation
Date Issued
2018-01-17
Author(s)
Abstract
Recent research indicates that while higher tax levels are politically unpopular, greater tax progressivity is not. However, there remain unanswered questions regarding public support for more progressive taxation. In particular, little is known about how individual attitudes towards tax progressivity are affected by their institutional context. Building on existing theories of redistribution, this article develops the argument that the structure of the welfare state shapes public attitudes towards progressive taxation—support for progressive taxation among both average and high-income households is undermined by ‘pro-poor’ welfare spending. We support our argument with a cross-sectional analysis of rich democracies, interacting household income with country-level indicators of welfare state structure. In doing so, we contribute a micro-level explanation for the paradoxical macro-level phenomenon that larger, more redistributive welfare states tend to be financed by less progressive tax systems.
Subjects
progressive taxation
;
individual attitudes
;
Welfare State
;
income inequality
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Institution
Type
journal article
Journal/Edited collection
Start page
823
End page
850
Secondary publication
Yes
Document version
Postprint
License
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
Language
English
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Berens Gelepithis_Welfare state structure, inequality, and public attitudes towards progressive taxation_2019.pdf
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1.01 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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