Tax incidence, behavioral economics and laboratory experiments: a review of the literature

Abstract

Tax incidence is one of the most fundamental issues in public economics. This paper addresses this issue from a specific angle, by looking at the contribution to this field of research of behavioral and experimental studies to the principle of tax incidence equivalence (i.e. Liability Side Equivalence Principle). Moving from the idea that subjects have problems in correctly evaluating their own marginal tax rate, key behavioral and experimental features are addressed in the paper. These including: tax perception, tax complexity, tax salience, tax incidence and the impact of market structure upon tax related behaviors. Key contributions are reviewed and future research lines are proposed.