The Impact of Tax Policies on Living Organ Donations in the United States

American Journal of Transplantation, Forthcoming

26 Pages Posted: 29 May 2012

See all articles by Atheendar Venkataramani

Atheendar Venkataramani

University of Pennsylvania - Perelman School of Medicine

Erika Martin

Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government

Anitha Vijayan

Washington University in St. Louis - Division of Renal Diseases

Jason Wellen

Washington University in St. Louis - Department of Surgery

Date Written: January 1, 2012

Abstract

In an effort to increase living organ donation, 15 states passed tax deductions and 1 a tax credit to help defray potential medical, lodging and wage loss costs between 2004 and 2008. To assess the impact of these policies on living donation rates, we used a differences-in-differences strategy which compares the pre- and post-legislation change in living donations in states that passed legislation against the same change in those states that did not. We found no statistically significant effect of these tax policies on donation rates. Furthermore, we found no evidence of any lagged effects, differential impacts by gender, race or donor relationship, or impacts on deceased donation. Possible hypotheses to explain our findings are: the cash value of the tax deduction may be too low to defray costs faced by donors, lack of public awareness about the existence of these policies, and that states that were proactive enough to pass tax policy laws may have already depleted donor pools with previous interventions.

Keywords: tax, living organ donation, state policy, United States

JEL Classification: I10, I18 H30, H75

Suggested Citation

Venkataramani, Atheendar and Martin, Erika and Vijayan, Anitha and Wellen, Jason, The Impact of Tax Policies on Living Organ Donations in the United States (January 1, 2012). American Journal of Transplantation, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2070003

Atheendar Venkataramani (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Perelman School of Medicine ( email )

423 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Erika Martin

Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government ( email )

411 State Street
Albany, NY 12203-1003
United States

Anitha Vijayan

Washington University in St. Louis - Division of Renal Diseases ( email )

St Louis, MO 63130
United States

Jason Wellen

Washington University in St. Louis - Department of Surgery ( email )

St. Louis, MO
United States

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