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Tax competition and federal equalization schemes with decentralized leadership

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  • Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva

    (University of Alberta)

Abstract

Regional governments compete by setting capital taxes in anticipation of the central government’s fiscal equalization and income redistribution policies. I start by demonstrating that the constrained socially optimal allocation satisfies the Pareto efficient conditions; therefore, it may be first best. It is also shown that the subgame perfect equilibrium for the game played by regional and central governments is socially optimal. The anticipation of equalization of marginal utilities of public consumption and equalization of marginal utilities of private consumption provides regional governments with correct incentives in the setting of capital taxes, preventing the phenomenon known as “race to the bottom.”

Suggested Citation

  • Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva, 2017. "Tax competition and federal equalization schemes with decentralized leadership," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(1), pages 164-178, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:24:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10797-016-9402-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-016-9402-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Toshiki Tamai & Gareth Myles, 2022. "Unemployment, tax competition, and tax transfer policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(3), pages 470-503, June.
    2. Till Gross, 2021. "Dynamic Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Transfer Union," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 194-238, October.
    3. Tomas Sjögren, 2019. "Labor income taxes in an economic federation with proportional membership fees," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(5), pages 1137-1165, October.
    4. Thierry Madiès & Emmanuelle Taugourdeau, 2020. "Vertical transfers and tax competition: does trade integration matter?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(3), pages 453-475, October.
    5. Caterina Liesegang & Marco Runkel, 2018. "Tax competition and fiscal equalization under corporate income taxation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 311-324, April.
    6. Maxime Uhoda, 2020. "Which competences for sub-national jurisdictions and how to finance them? The economic theory of fiscal federalism from the foundations to nowadays," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 22(1), pages 91-112, June.
    7. Naoto Aoyama & Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva, 2023. "Efficient Decentralized Leadership under Hybrid Work and Attachment to Regions," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal equalization; Income redistribution; Capital tax competition; Decentralized leadership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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