Cappelen in new article: inheritance taxation has low legitimacy within the Norwegian population
Post-doctor Cornelius Cappelen finds in a new article in Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning that inheritance taxation has low legitimacy within the Norwegian population. Nonetheless, he and co-author J酶rgen Pedersen conclude, an increase of the tax is principally defensible in light of egalitarian ideals.
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Taxation with low legitimacy
Post-doctor Cornelius Cappelen discusses the legitimacy of the Norwegian inheritance taxation in a new article in . The article is co-written by J酶rgen Pedersen (University of Bergen).
The Norwegian government recently abolished inheritance taxation. In a recent survey Cappelen and Pedersen found that inheritance taxation has low legitimacy within the Norwegian population. People see it as double taxation, and regard it as problematic because it makes it difficult for families to maintain ownership of听items with sentimental value. People also oppose inheritance taxation because it makes it more difficult to keep family businesses.听
The authors assess the question of (what is) just inheritance taxation in the context of a two-fold set of distributive ideals: the ideal of equality and the ideal of responsibility. The former holds that inequality stemming from factors beyond an individual鈥檚 control should be mitigated, while the latter makes the case for performance-based inequalities that arise as a result of individual effort.
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- Inheritance taxation increase principally defensible
Cappelen and Pedersen argue that an inheritance taxation increase is consistent with听the equality ideal, while the ideal of responsibility suggests an inheritance taxation reduction. They conclude that听inheritance taxation increase is principally justifiable, but concede that the taxation鈥檚 low legitimacy within the population is problematic.
