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What’s fair? Preferences for tax progressivity in the wake of the financial crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2019

Julian Limberg Open the ORCID record for Julian Limberg [Opens in a new window]
Julian Limberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: julian.limberg@eui.eu
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Abstract

Progressive taxation is an effective redistributive tool in times of growing inequality. However, like all public policies, an increase in tax progressivity is unlikely if it lacks popular demand. Has the financial crisis affected the demand for progressive taxation? Building on research that has identified fairness beliefs as the main factor pushing for taxes on the rich, I argue that the Great Recession and states’ reactions to it have caused a general shift in tax policy preferences. As a consequence, demand for tax progressivity is higher in crisis countries. Multilevel analyses using survey data for 32 countries show support for my argument. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the politics of redistribution in the 21st century.

Keywords

fairnessinequalitypreferencesredistributiontaxation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 171 - 193
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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