Essays on taxes and consumption

University dissertation from Stockholm : Stockholm School of Economics

Author: Paul Elger; Handelshögskolan I Stockholm.; [2014]

Keywords: Social Sciences Economics and Business Economics; Samhällsvetenskap Ekonomi och näringsliv Nationalekonomi; tax salience; church tax; church membership; tax incidence; ad valorem taxes; pricing complements; multi-product monopoly prices; rule-of-thumb consumers; life cycle – permanent income hypothesis; payday; consumption; SOCIAL SCIENCES Business and economics Economics; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP Ekonomi Nationalekonomi;

Abstract: This Ph.D. thesis in Economics consists of three self-contained chapters in Applied Microeconomics that use Swedish registry data and data on prices collected at restaurants.“Salience on the Income Tax Return: Effects of Specifying the Swedish Church Tax on Church Membership” explores if there is an effect of how taxes are communicated on the income tax return. In 2001 a separate line was introduced which specified the church taxes on the income tax return. I study how this change affected membership to the Church of Sweden.“The Impact of Paychecks on Expenditures – How Large is the Share of Rule of Thumb Consumers?” evaluates whether households smooth consumption between time periods by considering whether the timing of consumption, responds to the arrival time of the predictable monthly paycheck.“The Effect of Lower Value Added Tax on Restaurant Prices: Cheaper Food – More expensive Wine?” evaluates how prices of meals and complementary alcoholic beverages responded to a VAT reduction on restaurant food services.

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