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on Public Finance |
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Issue of 2021‒08‒09
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Jonathan Heathcote; Hitoshi Tsujiyama |
| Abstract: | We review methods used to numerically compute optimal Mirrleesian tax and transfer schedules in heterogeneous agent economies. We show that the coarseness of the productivity grid, while a technical detail in terms of theory, is critical for delivering quantitative policy prescriptions. Existing methods are reliable only when a very fine grid is used. The problem is acute for computational approaches that use a version of the Diamond-Saez implicit optimal tax formula. If using a very fine grid for productivity is impractical, then optimizing within a flexible parametric class is preferable to the non-parametric Mirrleesian approach. |
| Keywords: | Ramsey taxation; Optimal income taxation; Mirrlees taxation |
| JEL: | H24 H21 |
| Date: | 2021–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:92932&r= |
| By: | Mark Huggett; Wenlan Luo |
| Abstract: | We derive an optimal labor income tax rate formula for urban models in which tax rates are determined by traditional forces plus a new term arising from urban forces: house price, migration and agglomeration effects. Based on the earnings distributions and housing costs in large and small US cities, we find that in a benchmark model (i) optimal income tax rates are U-shaped, (ii) urban forces serve to raise optimal tax rates at all income levels and (iii) adopting an optimal tax system induces agents with low skills to leave large, productive cities. While agglomeration effects enter the optimal tax formula, they play almost no quantitative role in shaping optimal labor income tax rates. |
| Keywords: | Housing; Income inequality; Urban economics; Optimal taxation |
| JEL: | R20 J10 H20 |
| Date: | 2021–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmoi:92931&r= |
| By: | Yukihiro NISHIMURA (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Jean HINDRIKS |
| Abstract: | Minimum taxation means that if a multinational enterprise (MNE) declares its operations in a jurisdiction taxing less than the minimum tax, the countries where the real economic activity takes place would have the right to tax the difference. There is a revival of the minimum tax standard for two reasons. First, there is concern about the complexity of assigning taxing rights and the effectiveness of profit-splitting rules in eliminating profit shifting. Second, the minimum tax standard has the merit of tackling multinational tax avoidance at its root. However, this argument ignores the strategic interaction between minimum taxation and tax compliance. Building upon Hindriks and Nishimura (2021), we develop a framework in which effective international tax compliance requires enforcement coordination between countries (e.g. exchange of information). We show that under sufficient market asymmetry (translating into the tax differential), minimum taxation may induce the low-tax countries to withdraw from international tax compliance agreements. We then show that such a breakdown of cooperation can make the high-tax country worse off compared to the absence of minimum taxation. |
| Keywords: | Profit shifting; Tax competition; Tax enforcement; |
| JEL: | C72 F23 F68 H25 H87 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:2110&r= |
| By: | Ana Cinta González Cabral; Silvia Appelt; Tibor Hanappi |
| Abstract: | R&D tax incentives have become a widely used policy tool to promote business R&D. How do they shape firms’ incentives to invest in R&D? This paper contributes a methodology to construct forward-looking effective tax rates for an R&D investment that reflect the value of expenditure-based R&D tax incentives. The new OECD estimates cover 48 countries and consider the case of large profitable firms, accounting for the bulk of R&D in most economies. The results provide new insights into the generosity of R&D tax incentives from the perspective of firms that decide on whether or where to invest in R&D (extensive margin) and the level (intensive margin) of R&D investment. The generosity of the favourable tax treatment of R&D is shown to vary at the intensive and extensive margins, highlighting differences in countries’ strategies to support R&D through the tax system. |
| JEL: | H25 H2 O3 H |
| Date: | 2021–07–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ctpaaa:54-en&r= |
| By: | Pedro A. Cabra-Acela |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I examine the conditions under which rewarding honest taxpayers is an optimal mechanism to reduce tax evasion and improve collection. My theoretical model suggests that when it is expensive to audit contributors, and moral (or pecuniary) evasion cost is high enough, rewarding tax compliance is an effective strategy to increase collection. I provide empirical evidence from Argentina’s province variation of rewards policies and tax collection. Where the data suggests that theoretical conditions hold, I find a positive effect in real estate per capita tax collection between 0.4 and more than 2 standard deviations. |
| Keywords: | Tax evasion, good taxpayer, rewards, fiscal policy, Argentina. |
| JEL: | H21 H26 H30 |
| Date: | 2021–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:019419&r= |
| By: | Arik Levinson (Department of Economics, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Most taxes in the United States are levied on income flows, not capital stocks. One notable exception is state and local property taxes. This note documents their magnitude and regressivity. Property taxes account for more than 30 percent of state and local tax revenue, and amount to an effective wealth tax rate of 0.86 percent on the assets of the median US homeowner. The effective property-wealth tax rates are highest for younger, lower-income homeowners. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, wealth tax, property tax |
| JEL: | H2 H7 |
| Date: | 2021–07–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~21-21-18&r= |
| By: | European Commission |
| Abstract: | This report contains a detailed statistical and economic analysis of the tax systems of the Member States of the European Union, plus Iceland and Norway, which are Members of the European Economic Area. The data are presented within a unified statistical framework (the ESA2010 harmonised system of national and regional accounts), which makes it possible to assess the heterogeneous national tax systems on a fully comparable basis. |
| Keywords: | European Union, taxation |
| JEL: | H23 H24 H25 H27 H71 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxtre:2021&r= |
| By: | Yukihiro Nishimura (Corresponding author. Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Kimiko Terai (Faculty of Economics, Keio University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the political process of tax competition among asymmetric countries, highlighting the role of the commitment to the electoral promises. The median voters deliberately elect a delegate whose preferences di?er from their own (strategic delegation), which is self-enforcing under symmetric countries. We ?rst show that the outcome of strategic delegation is replicated when the candidates do not make binding campaign promises in both countries, and the opposite scenario of the binding commitments to the platforms leads to the self-representation by the median voters. We then amplify the model by adding the pre-election stage where the citizens choose whether the credibility of election promises is critical, through subscription numbers of newspapers and social media which determine the cost of betrayal of the proposed platforms (or the lack of the proposal). We then show that, depending on the type of asymmetries under consideration, su?cient asymmetry or su?ciently equal income distribution generate the commitment to the election campaign promises as the equilibrium outcome. |
| Keywords: | Capital-tax competition; Election campaign promises; Asymmetric countries; Voting |
| JEL: | C72 D72 D78 H23 H87 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:2021r&r= |
| By: | Nemalili, Veronica; Robinson, Zurika |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of wealth taxes on the South African economy by analysing the relationship between wealth taxes and the gross domestic product (GDP). It considers the Engle and Granger cointegration technique on annual tax data of the current forms of wealth being taxed (donations tax, transfer duty and estate duty), to determine the empirical relationship between wealth taxes and GDP. The study suggests that wealth tax increases GDP in the long run, with no impact in the short run. If the government introduces additional forms of wealth tax, this change may negatively affect short-run changes in GDP. The proposed wealth tax is a continuous annual tax and will therefore cause individuals to make changes to their economic activities. The paper contends that the introduction of a comprehensive wealth tax in South Africa by the government would not yield favourable results and is thus not recommended. |
| Keywords: | Wealth taxes, economic growth, South Africa |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:27753&r= |
| By: | Chigome, Joyce; Robinson, Zurika |
| Abstract: | Literature posits that numerous economic and institutional factors limit the amount of taxes that a country can raise. Against this background, the substantive aim of this study was to assess the determinants of tax capacity and tax effort in the SADC. A multi-step procedure was followed to estimate determinants of tax capacity and tax effort using stochastic tax function and unbalanced panel data for 13 SADC countries1. The study disentangled the error term to estimate the random effects separately from tax effort to capture the time-invariant country-specific effects. Further, tax effort was classified as persistent (long-run) and transient (short-run). The findings of the quantitative analysisindicate that financial deepening, economic development and trade openness influence tax capacity, while corruption and inflation influence tax effort. The SADC region has low persistent tax effort, implying that improving tax administration has superseded tax policy reforms. This result is augmented by the fact that tax legislation efforts were largely successful in tax administration but rather limited given tax policy. Tax policy designers should be informed by conditions of a country and policy considerations confirmed. |
| Keywords: | Tax capacity, tax effort, SADC |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:27752&r= |