---
_id: '65737'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'We examine German individuals'' preferences for income and wealth taxation
    and, importantly, the interplay between these two tax instruments. While prior
    research often examines wealth tax preferences in isolation, actual tax systems
    consist of multiple interacting taxes. To capture this dynamic, we elicit preferred
    tax burdens in a large-scale online experiment with 2,702 participants randomly
    assigned to one of four treatment groups: respondents state either an unspecified
    overall tax burden, separate income and wealth tax burdens, an income tax burden
    only, or a wealth tax burden only. Our baseline estimates reveal average (marginal)
    tax rates of approximately 17.4% (18.9%) for income and 4.1% (2.3%) for wealth.
    We find that participants associate wealth with an ability-to-pay taxes: when
    a wealth tax is not explicitly available, preferred income tax rates are approximately
    30% higher. However, when both instruments are available, participants do not
    treat them as substitutes. Instead, they appear to treat the two taxes as separate
    mental bins: the standalone income and wealth tax burdens are combined in a notably
    additive manner, resulting in a significantly higher overall tax burden. Further,
    respondents apply implicit exemptions for low levels of wealth and favor a wealth
    tax base focused primarily on financial assets and real estate other than the
    primary residence.'
author:
- first_name: Ralf
  full_name: Maiterth, Ralf
  last_name: Maiterth
- first_name: Yuri
  full_name: Piper, Yuri
  id: '49955'
  last_name: Piper
- first_name: Cornelius
  full_name: Schneider, Cornelius
  last_name: Schneider
citation:
  ama: Maiterth R, Piper Y, Schneider C. <i>Preferences for Taxing Wealth and Income</i>.;
    2026. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418">10.2139/ssrn.6832418</a>
  apa: Maiterth, R., Piper, Y., &#38; Schneider, C. (2026). <i>Preferences for Taxing
    Wealth and Income</i>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418">https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418</a>
  bibtex: '@book{Maiterth_Piper_Schneider_2026, series={TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency
    Working Paper Series No. 239}, title={Preferences for Taxing Wealth and Income},
    DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418">10.2139/ssrn.6832418</a>},
    author={Maiterth, Ralf and Piper, Yuri and Schneider, Cornelius}, year={2026},
    collection={TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper Series No. 239}
    }'
  chicago: Maiterth, Ralf, Yuri Piper, and Cornelius Schneider. <i>Preferences for
    Taxing Wealth and Income</i>. TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper
    Series No. 239, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418">https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418</a>.
  ieee: R. Maiterth, Y. Piper, and C. Schneider, <i>Preferences for Taxing Wealth
    and Income</i>. 2026.
  mla: Maiterth, Ralf, et al. <i>Preferences for Taxing Wealth and Income</i>. 2026,
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6832418">10.2139/ssrn.6832418</a>.
  short: R. Maiterth, Y. Piper, C. Schneider, Preferences for Taxing Wealth and Income,
    2026.
date_created: 2026-06-01T06:46:10Z
date_updated: 2026-06-01T06:47:26Z
department:
- _id: '187'
doi: 10.2139/ssrn.6832418
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
oa: '1'
series_title: TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper Series No. 239
status: public
title: Preferences for Taxing Wealth and Income
type: working_paper
user_id: '96670'
year: '2026'
...