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The political economy of corporate tax harmonization — Why do European politicians (dis)like minimum tax rates?

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  • Osterloh, Steffen
  • Heinemann, Friedrich

Abstract

Setting minimum tax rates is a well discussed way of mitigating pressure from tax competition. This paper investigates which motives shape the support for a minimum corporate tax among politicians. We make use of a unique data base: a survey among members of the European parliament. Our results confirm that the politicians' ideology as well as individual characteristics such as educational background exert a major influence. Moreover, several predictions regarding national interests are derived from various standard tax competition models. These hypotheses are partly supported by the data; in particular, different national preferences towards social equality shape the support. A comparison with survey results from the German Bundestag reveals that German politicians on the national level do not show different attitudes towards tax rate harmonization.

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  • Osterloh, Steffen & Heinemann, Friedrich, 2013. "The political economy of corporate tax harmonization — Why do European politicians (dis)like minimum tax rates?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 18-37.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:29:y:2013:i:c:p:18-37
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2012.09.002
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    2. Keuschnigg, Christian & Loretz, Simon & Winner, Hannes, 2014. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union: A Survey," Economics Working Paper Series 1427, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    3. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    4. Elisabeth Bustos Contell & Salvador Climent-Serrano & Gregorio Labatut-Serer, 2018. "The evolution of the tax burden for EU companies," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 12(4), December.
    5. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2009. "Partisan politics in corporate tax competition," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-078, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2012. "Partisan politics in corporate taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 192-207.
    7. Patricia Sanz‐Córdoba & Bernd Theilen, 2018. "Partial Tax Harmonization Through Infrastructure Coordination," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1399-1416, April.
    8. Blesse, Sebastian & Boyer, Pierre C. & Heinemann, Friedrich & Janeba, Eckhard, 2016. "Searching for a Franco-German consensus on the future of Europe: Survey results for Bundestag, Assemblée Nationale and Sénat," ZEW policy briefs 5/2016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2014. "Behavioral public choice: A survey," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 14/03, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    10. Alena Andrejovska & Veronika Pulikova, 2018. "Tax Revenues in the Context of Economic Determinants," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 14(1), pages 133-141.
    11. Streif, Frank, 2015. "Tax competition in Europe: Europe in competition with other world regions?," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-082, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Hrvoje Simovic & Helena Blazic & Ana Stambuk, 2014. "Perspectives of tax reforms in Croatia: expert opinion survey," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 38(4), pages 405-439.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Company taxation; Tax harmonization; Political economy; European Parliament;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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