Working Paper: NBER ID: w31404
Authors: Emily Y. Lin; Joel Slemrod; Evelyn A. Smith; Alexander Yuskavage
Abstract: Married couples filing a joint return put the male name first 88.1% of the time in tax year 2020, down from 97.3% in 1996. The man’s name is more likely to go first the larger is the fraction of the couple’s allocable income that goes to him, and the older is the couple. Based on state averages, putting the man’s name first is strongly associated with conservative political attitudes, religiosity, and a survey-based measure of sexist attitudes. Risk-taking and tax noncompliance are both associated with the man’s name going first.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| social norms regarding gender (J16) | name order on joint tax returns (K34) |
| political conservatism (P16) | name order on joint tax returns (K34) |
| religiosity (Z12) | name order on joint tax returns (K34) |
| sexist attitudes (J16) | name order on joint tax returns (K34) |
| financial prominence (G53) | name order on joint tax returns (K34) |
| name order on joint tax returns (K34) | riskier financial behaviors (G41) |
| name order on joint tax returns (K34) | tax noncompliance (H26) |