Does information on tax shifting shift tax preferences?

Abstract: One of the main insights of public economics is that taxes are not necessarily borne by those who pay the taxes. However, public debates about taxation rarely consider tax shifting. Using corporate taxation as an example, we investigate in a survey experiment whether individuals' preferences for taxation change when they are informed about four channels of tax shifting: prices, wages, owner payouts, or investments. We find that the preferred corporate tax rate decreases when the burden falls onto individuals (in terms of prices and wages). There is little or no effect when we reveal the effect on payouts or investments. While the information changes perceived own costs, this change does not seem to mediate the effect of the treatment.