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Danish Center for Welfare Studies

How high should taxes be?

How high should taxes be? New study shows voters back lower rates only for income earned on merit

In an article for The Conversation, DaWS Professor Pieter Vanhuysse reports on the findings of a recent study that shows that people think that the way income inequalities were derived matters. Whether it comes from luck or merit matters for their decision on how to tax income.

"We did the experiment in different settings, with some groups aware that others were rewarded differently to them, and some groups unaware. We found that information on precisely how others obtained their incomes was really necessary for people to make a judgement about tax levels. Without such information, luck or merit just made no difference for anyone’s tax voting."

Find the article here