Comparative Tax Fairness

While extant literature acknowledges the fact that fairness considerations are both heterogeneous and important in determining peoples' preferences regarding taxation, it has yet to properly address the multiplicity of normative criteria applied by individuals. This paper contributes to filling this gap by using a conjoint experiment to identify the causal role ability to pay, deservingness and compensatory fairness considerations play in determining peoples' preferences for distributing the tax burden, as well as their relative importance and variation across different groups. Moreover, by conducting the same survey experiment in four countries (U.S., Australia, Chile and Argentina) it examines the extent to which trust in government moderates polarization in fairness preferences regarding taxation.