Decentralized fiscal decision-making should serve to enhance welfare by promoting allocative efficiency gains and fostering greater political accountability. Within such an institutional framework, individuals are assumed to be willing to pay, at least, no less taxes than those they pay in a centralized system. We test this hypothesis by means of a survey experiment, leveraging the process of decentralization that has unfolded in Spain over the last 25 years. Our results suggest that individuals have very limited awareness of the tier of government to which they pay their taxes, frequently assuming the system to be centralized. This holds true even in regions where tax decentralization is maximum, as is the case of Spain’s foral communities. On ‘discovering decentralization’ (i.e., being informed that a tax is more decentralized than initially perceived), an individual’s marginal willingness to pay taxes undergoes only a minimal change, with the exception of that of personal income tax. These findings raise questions about the purported benefits of tax decentralization.

We explore the impact of university teacher-student interactions on student perceptions of, and preferences with regard to, taxation. Grounded in an experimental framework in which tax practitioners (who are usually hired as adjunct university lecturers) delivered an introductory lecture on an undergraduate tax course, we find that the lectures can impact perceptions, but also preferences if the lecture is of sufficient interest or relevance to engage student attention. Additionally, we find that lectures delivered by practitioners working in the public sector tend to increase student perceptions of tax justice, but that this impact is independent of both the gender of the lecturer and that of the student. However, we deduce the existence of gender bias in evaluating the perceived interest level of lectures. All else being equal, male students typically provide lower ratings for female lecturers, whereas female students tend to give higher ratings for male lecturers.

10 de abril de 2024 – 9.30h a 14h. – Foment del Treball Nacional