TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kopczuk,Wojciech
AU  - Slemrod,Joel
TI  - Dying to Save Taxes: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns on the Death Elasticity
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8158
PY  - 2001
Y2  - March 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8158
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8158.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Wojciech Kopczuk
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street, Rm. 1022 IAB
MC 3323
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/854-2519
Fax: 212/864-8059
E-Mail: wk2110@columbia.edu

Joel Slemrod
University of Michigan Business School
701 Tappan Street
Room R5396
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1234
Tel: 734/936-3914
Fax: 734-615-4323
E-Mail: jslemrod@umich.edu
AB  - This paper examines data from U.S. federal tax returns to shed light on whether the timing of death is responsive to its tax consequences.  We investigate the temporal pattern of deaths around the time of changes in the estate tax system   periods when living longer, or dying sooner, could significantly affect estate tax liability. We find some evidence that there is a small death elasticity, although we cannot rule out that what we have uncovered is ex post doctoring of the reported date of death.  However, the fact that we find that postponement, rather than acceleration, of death is more likely to occur suggests that this phenomenon is at last partly a real (albeit timing) response to taxation.
ER  -