Gift taxes and lifetime transfers: time series evidence

The tax treatment of lifetime transfers was altered on a number of occasions since the enactment of gift tax six decades ago. Trends in gifts by the wealthy show a dramatic response to these changes. In this paper, I examine this trend and gauge its response to taxes, transitory and permanent, over a period of 65 years. Results suggest that gifts are highly elastic with respect to taxes, particularly in the short run. Tax minimization seems to be an important consideration in the timing of intergenerational transfers. Published by Elsevier B.V.