Do consequences matter? Survey v. experimental results in a tax setting

This study examines whether the presence of consequences from participants' selfreported tax policy preferences affect such preferences. Prior research examining tax policy preference has been largely survey-based and reported mixed results. In a non-tax setting, prior research has found that survey responses about what participants would do in a situation do not necessarily reflect what they actually will do when consequences are attached to their choices. We examine this issue by soliciting participants' preferences for tax progressivity under both a no-consequences (survey) and a consequences (experimental) setting. Our results indicate that participants' self-reported tax progressivity preferences more strongly reflect self-interest when there are consequences. This suggests that researchers using surveys to study tax policy preferences should follow up with experimental studies that attach consequences to participants' responses.