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Welfare state structure, inequality, and public attitudes towards progressive taxation
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Berens, Sarah and Gelepithis, Margarita (2019) Welfare state structure, inequality, and public attitudes towards progressive taxation. Socio-Economic Review, 17 (4). pp. 823-850. doi:10.1093/ser/mwx063 ISSN 1475-1461.
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WRAP-welfare-state-struture-inequality-attitudes-taxation-Gelepithis-2019.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (1741Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwx063
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.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance J Political Science > JC Political theory |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Progressive taxation, Welfare state | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Socio-Economic Review | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1475-1461 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | October 2019 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 17 | ||||||||
| Number: | 4 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 823-850 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1093/ser/mwx063 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 1 March 2019 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 January 2020 |
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