Did the Death of Australian Inheritance Taxes Affect Deaths?

Abstract

In 1979, Australia abolished federal inheritance taxes. Using daily deaths data, we show that approximately 50 deaths were shifted from the week before the abolition to the week after (amounting to over half of those who would have been eligible to pay the tax). Our findings suggest that the scheduled abolition of the US inheritance tax may lead some deaths to be shifted from the last week of 2009 into the first week of 2010.

Keywords: Behavioral responses to taxation, timing of deaths, estate tax

JEL Classification: H26, I12