The Legacy of the Swedish Gift and Inheritance Tax, 1884-2004

Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies, Uppsala University, Working Paper No. 2009/13

30 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2007 Last revised: 26 Dec 2009

See all articles by Henry Ohlsson

Henry Ohlsson

Uppsala University - Department of Economics

Date Written: August 26, 2009

Abstract

This paper has two objectives. The first is to study the revenue from the gift, inheritance, and estate taxes in Sweden during more than a century. The second is to focus on a unique episode during the second half of the 1940s when gifts and gift tax revenue exploded. This episode has never before been discussed in the research literature. It gives an extremely clear illustration of behavioral response to taxes in general, and the impact of expectations of future tax increases in particular. It is also a very interesting episode in the economic history of Sweden. I have access to aggregate tax revenue data since 1884. Moreover, I have constructed a rich micro data set of all gifts reported during the period 1942–1949 in one county. A first main result is that gift tax revenue during the 1940s started to increase long before a new estate tax and increased wealth taxation were decided and implemented. The increase even began before the legislative process started. Second, both the number and the average values of gifts increased. Promissory notes were, in value, the most common way to give. Finally, gifts, inheritances, and estates were never important sources of tax revenue. Revenue as a share of GDP reached a peak already in the 1930s. The role of these taxes has instead primarily been equity and to provide integrity for other tax bases.

Keywords: gift tax, inheritance tax, estate tax, tax avoidance, expectations

JEL Classification: D10, D31, H24, N33, N34

Suggested Citation

Ohlsson, Henry, The Legacy of the Swedish Gift and Inheritance Tax, 1884-2004 (August 26, 2009). Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies, Uppsala University, Working Paper No. 2009/13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1015221 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1015221

Henry Ohlsson (Contact Author)

Uppsala University - Department of Economics ( email )

Box 513
Uppsala, SE-75120
Sweden
+46 18 471 51 04 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.uueconomics.se/henryo/

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