A new GLO Discussion Paper finds that marriage bonuses/penalties differ substantially across household types and income.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 906, 2021

Does it pay to say “I do”? Marriage bonuses and penalties across the EU – Download PDF
by Christl, Michael & De Poli, Silvia & Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė, Viginta

GLO Fellow Michael Christl

Author Abstract:

We analyse the different fiscal treatment of married and cohabiting couples across all EU Member States using microsimulation methods. Our paper highlights important differences across EU countries’ tax-benefit systems, where seven countries show substantial bonuses for married couples and four exhibit marriage penalties. On a micro level, we find that these marriage bonuses/penalties differ substantially across household types and income. From a policy point of view, our results suggest that the abolishment of marriage-related tax-benefit components in countries with marriage bonuses would leave some households financially worse off but would increase governments revenues that could be spent to targeted support of specific groups. From both an equity and a gender equality point of view, this abolishment would be desirable.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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