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Tax competition in a fiscal union with decentralized leadership

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  • Kothenburger, Marko

Abstract

This paper examines capital tax competition in the presence of an interstate transfer policy without federal commitment. Lack of commitment implies that tax policy is chosen prior to federal transfers. The paper’s main result is that ex-post federal policy internalizes horizontal fiscal externalities, insulating tax policy from capital mobility. Federal policy, however, introduces a new source of inefficiency unrelated to tax competition. Specifically, ex-post transfer payments prove to be equivalent to an interstate revenue-sharing system which may render federal intervention in the presence of fiscal externalities welfare-deteriorating relative to tax competition.
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  • Kothenburger, Marko, 2004. "Tax competition in a fiscal union with decentralized leadership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 498-513, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:55:y:2004:i:3:p:498-513
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    Cited by:

    1. Akai, Nobuo & Sato, Motohiro, 2008. "Too big or too small? A synthetic view of the commitment problem of interregional transfers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 551-559, November.
    2. Kothenburger, Marko, 2007. "Ex-post redistribution in a federation: Implications for corrective policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 481-496, April.
    3. Marie-Laure Breuillé & Thierry Madiès & Emmanuelle Taugourdeau, 2007. "Fiscal federalism and soft budget constraint: does the nature of public spending matter?," Working Papers hal-04139222, HAL.
    4. Zarko Y. Kalamov, 2012. "Prudent Fiscal Policy in the Presence of Bailout Expectations," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 68(4), pages 365-382, December.
    5. Shun-ichiro Bessho & Kimiko Terai, 2011. "Competition for private capital and central grants: the case of Japanese industrial parks," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 135-154, June.
    6. Robin Boadway & Jean-Francois Tremblay, 2005. "A Theory of Vertical Fiscal Imbalance," Working Papers 2006-04, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    7. Thomas Aronsson Aronsson & Thomas Jonsson & Tomas Sjögren, 2006. "Environmental Policy and Optimal Taxation in a Decentralized Economic Federation," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 62(3), pages 437-454, September.
    8. Arthur Caplan & Emilson Silva, 2011. "Impure public goods, matching grant rates and income redistribution in a federation with decentralized leadership and imperfect labor mobility," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(3), pages 322-336, June.
    9. Yongzheng Liu, 2014. "Does competition for capital discipline governments? The role of fiscal equalization," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(3), pages 345-374, June.
    10. Nobuo Akai & Motohiro Sato, 2005. "leadership meets soft budget," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-391, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    11. Breuillé, Marie-Laure & Madiès, Thierry & Taugourdeau, Emmanuelle, 2010. "Gross versus net equalization scheme in a federation with decentralized leadership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 205-214, September.
    12. Koethenbuerger, Marko, 2008. "Federal tax-transfer policy and intergovernmental pre-commitment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 16-31, January.
    13. Nobuo Akai & Takahiro Watanabe, 2021. "Elections accelerate inefficiencies in local public good provision with decentralized leadership," OSIPP Discussion Paper 21E004, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    14. Aronsson, Thomas & Persson, Lars, 2012. "Decentralized fiscal federalism revisited: Optimal income taxation and public goods under horizontal leadership," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 223-226.
    15. Jonathan H. Hamilton & Steven M. Slutsky, 2021. "Optimal domestic redistribution and multinational monopoly," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1031-1046, July.
    16. Nobuo Akai & Takahiro Watanabe, 2023. "Electoral outcomes and local public goods provision with ex post interregional transfer," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(6), pages 1633-1655, December.
    17. Stephanie Armbruster & Beat Hintermann, 2020. "Decentralization with porous borders: public production in a federation with tax competition and spillovers," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 606-642, June.
    18. Aronsson, Thomas, 2010. "Optimal income taxation and decentralized fiscal federalism," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 187-195, July.
    19. Breuillé, Marie-Laure & Vigneault, Marianne, 2010. "Overlapping soft budget constraints," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 259-269, May.

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