Consumer Spending and Property Taxes
利用2011年意大利财产税临时改革带来的税收差异，研究发现主要住房税负增加导致有房贷家庭大幅削减支出，而其他房产税负对富裕家庭消费影响较小。
Abstract A sudden and temporary change to the Italian property tax system in 2011 generated significant variation in the amount of taxes paid across home-owners. Using new questions appositely added to the Survey on Household Income and Wealth, we exploit this cross-sectional variation to provide an unprecedented analysis of the consumption effects of a tax on housing wealth. A tax hike on the main dwelling leads to large expenditure cuts among mortgagors, who hold low liquid wealth despite owning sizable illiquid assets. In contrast, higher tax rates on other residential properties affect affluent households, thereby having a modest impact on their consumer spending. Our results provide novel and direct evidence in favor of recent theories that highlight the role of household debt in the transmission of economic policies.