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Article Dans Une Revue Scandinavian Journal of Economics Année : 2022

Premature deaths, accidental bequests and fairness

Premature deaths, accidental bequests, and fairness*

Résumé

While little agreement exists regarding the taxation of bequests in general, there is a widely held view that accidental bequests should be subjected to a confiscatory tax. We reexamine the optimal taxation of accidental bequests by introducing a concern for compensating individuals for a premature death. Assuming that individuals care about what they leave to their offspring, we show that, whereas the 100 % tax view holds under the utilitarian criterion, the ex post egalitarian criterion (giving priority to the worst-off ex post) implies subsidizing accidental bequests so as to compensate the short-lived. In a second-best setting, compensating the short-lived justifies taxing total bequests at a rate increasing with the age of the deceased. Finally, when the model is extended to an intergenerational setting, accidental bequests cannot be used as a redistributive tool anymore, so that ex post egalitarianism rejoins the 100 % tax view.
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Dates et versions

halshs-03454842 , version 1 (29-11-2021)

Identifiants

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Marc Fleurbaey, Marie-Louise Leroux, Pierre Pestieau, Gregory Ponthiere, Stéphane Zuber. Premature deaths, accidental bequests and fairness. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2022, 124 (3), pp.709-743. ⟨10.1111/sjoe.12478⟩. ⟨halshs-03454842⟩
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