The Hidden Homeownership Welfare State: An International Long-Term Perspective on the Tax Treatment of Homeowners

Welfare is traditionally understood through social security decommodifying labor markets orsocial investment policies. In the domain of housing, however, welfare for homeowners is largelyhidden in the tax codes’ fiscal exemptions. Based on a content analysis of legislation, this pa-per introduces a novel yearly database of 37 countries between 1910 and 2020 to uncover the“hidden welfare state” of taxes on imputed rent, deductibility of mortgage payments, housingcapital gains tax and VAT on newly built dwellings. Summary indices of homeownership at-tractiveness and neutrality of the tax code show that fiscal homeownership policies have beenin decline until the 1980s and risen ever since. They are in place where finance is liberally andlabor restrictively regulated. Contrary to the classical welfare state, they are not associatedwith an economic logic of industrialism or left-wing governments, but a rent-regulation alter-native of Common-Law jurisdictions and smaller countries. As welfare for property owners, thelogic of fiscal homeownership welfare diverges from the classical welfare for the laboring classes.1 Introduction 2 Explaining homeowner supporting policies 3 Tax treatment of the owner-occupied housing 3.1 Imputed rent tax 3.2 Tax deductibility of mortgage payments 3.3 Capital gains tax 3.4 VAT on the new dwellings 4 Quantification of taxation attractiveness and tenure neutrality 4.1 Leximetric approach to taxation policies 4.2 Our approach 5 Results: descriptive and explanatory assessment of homeownership welfare 5.1 Individual tax indices 5.2 Correlation with other regulation indices 5.3 Regression analysis 6 Discussion and conclusion Literature Appendix A: Robustness tests Appendix B: An overview of the evolution of the country-specific homeowner-ship tax treatment Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Poland Portugal Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom US

The Hidden Homeownership Welfare State: An International Long-Term Perspective on the Tax Treatment of Homeowners

Welfare is traditionally understood as social security decommodifying labour markets or as social investment policies. In the domain of housing, however, welfare for homeowners is largely hidden in the tax codes’ fiscal exemptions. Based on a content analysis of legislation, this article introduces a novel yearly database of 37 countries between 1901 and 2020 to uncover the “hidden welfare state” of taxes on imputed rent, deductibility of mortgage payments, housing capital gains tax, and value-added tax on newly built dwellings. Summary indices of homeownership attractiveness and neutrality of the tax code show that fiscal homeownership policies have been in decline until the 1980s and risen ever since. They are in place where finance is liberally and labour restrictively regulated. Contrary to the classical welfare state, they are not associated with an economic logic of industrialism or left-wing governments. They rather are an alternative to rent regulation used by Common-law jurisdictions or smaller countries. As welfare for property owners, the logic of fiscal homeownership welfare diverges from the classical welfare for the labouring classes.Introduction Explaining homeowner supporting policies Tax treatment of the owner-occupied housing Quantification of taxation attractiveness and tenure neutrality Results: descriptive and explanatory assessment of homeownership welfare Discussion and conclusion Supplementary material Data availability statement Footnotes Reference

The hidden homeownership welfare state: an international long-term perspective on the tax treatment of homeowners

Welfare is traditionally understood as social security decommodifying labour markets or as social investment policies. In the domain of housing, however, welfare for homeowners is largely hidden in the tax codes’ fiscal exemptions. Based on a content analysis of legislation, this article introduces a novel yearly database of 37 countries between 1901 and 2020 to uncover the “hidden welfare state” of taxes on imputed rent, deductibility of mortgage payments, housing capital gains tax, and value-added tax on newly built dwellings. Summary indices of homeownership attractiveness and neutrality of the tax code show that fiscal homeownership policies have been in decline until the 1980s and risen ever since. They are in place where finance is liberally and labour restrictively regulated. Contrary to the classical welfare state, they are not associated with an economic logic of industrialism or left-wing governments. They rather are an alternative to rent regulation used by Common-law jurisdictions or smaller countries. As welfare for property owners, the logic of fiscal homeownership welfare diverges from the classical welfare for the labouring classes

Replication Data: The Hidden Homeownership Welfare State: An International Long-Term Perspective on the Tax Treatment of Homeowners

This project contains replication files, including R codes and the corresponding data set. The data are obtained using a content analysis of the legal acts or secondary literature considering homeowner taxation (taxes on imputed rent, deductibility of mortgage payments, housing capital gains tax and VAT on newly built dwellings). The data have an annual frequency and cover 37 countries between 1901 and 2020. (2022-06-03

ПРО ВИСОКОШВИДКІСНОЇ МЕРЕЖІ НА ЗАЛІЗНИЦЯХ УКРАЇНИ

The article considers a mathematical model of high-speed rail network of inUkraineand proposes a method of developing the rational options.В статье рассмотрена математическая модель сети высокоскоростных железных дорог Украины и предложен метод формирования рациональных вариантов.У статті розглянута математична модель мережі високошвидкісних залізниць України і запропонований метод формування раціональних варіантів

THE CHANGE IN ELEVATION OF THE OUTER RAIL ALONG THE CURVE

The possibility of changing the outer rail superelevation along constant radius curves is considered

АНАЛІЗ МОЖЛИВОСТІ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ В УКРАЇНІ РУХОМОГО СКЛАДУ З ПРИМУСОВИМ НАХИЛОМ КУЗОВА ВАГОНІВ ПРИ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ШВИДКІСНОГО РУХУ

The authors have carried out an analysis and established the sphere of application of rolling stock with forced inclination of the car bodies.Проведен анализ и установлена сфера применения подвижного состава с принудительным наклоном кузова вагонов.Проведений аналіз і визначена сфера застосування рухомого складу з примусовим нахилом кузова вагонів

СТАЛИЙ РОЗВИТОК ТРАНСПОРТУ І ПАСАЖИРСЬКІ ПЕРЕВЕЗЕННЯ У ДАЛЬНЬОМУ СПОЛУЧЕННІ

The model of basic factors, which should be taken into account for the strategic planning of far-distant passenger transportation, is considered from the positions of sustainable development.Рассматривается модель основных факторов, которые следует учитывать для стратегического планирования пассажирских перевозок в дальнем сообщении с позиций устойчивого развития.Розглядається модель основних факторів, які слід враховувати для стратегічного планування пасажирських перевезень у дальньому сполученні з позицій сталого розвитку