IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v25y2018i3d10.1007_s10797-017-9469-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal fringe benefit taxes: the implications of business use

Author

Listed:
  • Callum Butler

    (State Services Commission)

  • Paul Calcott

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

Abstract

Unless fringe benefits are taxed, remuneration may be distorted toward such benefits and away from wages and salaries. A principle for setting such taxes has been proposed in previous work. In particular, the value to workers of fringe benefits would be taxed at a rate equivalent to that on wages and salaries. The current paper reexamines this principle in a model where workers’ valuations are heterogeneous and unobservable to the tax authority. This model does have cases that are broadly consistent with the existing principle, but it also highlights cases in which taxes should be higher on fringe benefits that produce value for the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Callum Butler & Paul Calcott, 2018. "Optimal fringe benefit taxes: the implications of business use," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 654-672, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:25:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10797-017-9469-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-017-9469-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10797-017-9469-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-017-9469-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Collard & Michael Godwin & John Hudson, 2005. "The Provision of Company Benefits in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7-8), pages 1397-1421.
    2. repec:dgr:uvatin:20070060 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Eva Gutiérrez‐i‐Puigarnau & Jos N. Van Ommeren, 2011. "Welfare Effects Of Distortionary Fringe Benefits Taxation: The Case Of Employer‐Provided Cars," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1105-1122, November.
    4. Clotfelter, Charles T, 1983. "Tax-Induced Distortions and the Business-Pleasure Borderline: The Case of Travel and Entertainment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1053-1065, December.
    5. Zax, Jeffrey S., 1988. "Fringe benefits, income tax exemptions, and implicit subsides," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 171-183, November.
    6. David Collard & Michael Godwin & John Hudson, 2005. "The Provision of Company Benefits in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1397-1421, September.
    7. Mark Ashworth & Andrew Dilnot, 1987. "Company cars taxation," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 8(4), pages 24-38, December.
    8. Turner, Robert W., 1987. "Taxes and the number of fringe benefits received," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 41-57, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Voßmerbäumer, Jan & Wagner, Franz W., 2013. "Steuerwirkungen betrieblicher Entgeltpolitik," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 144, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    2. Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau & Jos van Ommeren, 2007. "Welfare Effects of Distortionary Company Car Taxation," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-060/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 20 Mar 2009.
    3. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Reimann, Felix, 2021. "On employer-paid parking and parking (cash-out) policy: A formal synthesis of different perspectives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 499-516.
    4. Jos Van Ommeren & Derk Wentink, 2012. "The (Hidden) Cost Of Employer Parking Policies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(3), pages 965-978, August.
    5. De Borger, Bruno & Wuyts, Bart, 2011. "The tax treatment of company cars, commuting and optimal congestion taxes," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1527-1544.
    6. DE BORGER, Bruno & GLAZER, Amihai, 2010. "Subsidizing consumption to signal quality of workers," Working Papers 2010016, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    7. Kristjan-Olari Leping, 2007. "Racial Differences In Availability Of Fringe Benefits As An Explanation For The Unexplained Blackwhite Wage Gap For Males In Us," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 57, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    8. Jos Ommeren & Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, 2013. "Distortionary company car taxation: deadweight losses through increased car ownership," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 1189-1204, December.
    9. Dimitropoulos, Alexandros & van Ommeren, Jos N. & Koster, Paul & Rietveld, Piet, 2016. "Not fully charged: Welfare effects of tax incentives for employer-provided electric cars," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-19.
    10. Alexandros Dimitropoulos & Jos N. van Ommeren & Paul Koster & Piet Rietveld†, 2014. "Welfare Effects of Distortionary Tax Incentives under Preference Heterogeneity: An Application to Employer-provided Electric Cars," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-064/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    11. Hu, Juncheng, 2021. "Do facilitation payments affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Giovanni Russo & Jos Ommeren & Piet Rietveld, 2012. "The university workers’ willingness to pay for commuting," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1121-1132, November.
    13. Lawrence B. Lindsey, 1985. "Taxpayer Behavior and the Distribution of the 1982 Tax Cut," NBER Working Papers 1760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Borghorst, Malte & Mulalic, Ismir & van Ommeren, Jos, 2021. "Commuting, Children and the Gender Wage Gap," Working Papers 15-2021, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    15. William M. Gentry & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Fundamental Tax Reform and Corporate Financial Policy," NBER Working Papers 6433, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Agrawal, David R. & Zhao, Weihua, 2023. "Taxing Uber," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    17. Bruno Borger & Stef Proost, 2016. "The political economy of pricing and capacity decisions for congestible local public goods in a federal state," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(5), pages 934-959, October.
    18. Van Ommeren, Jos & Rietveld, Piet & Zagha Hop, Jack & Sabir, Muhammad, 2013. "Killing kilos in car accidents: Are external costs of car weight internalised?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 86-93.
    19. Heuermann, Daniel F. & Assmann, Franziska & vom Berge, Philipp & Freund, Florian, 2017. "The distributional effect of commuting subsidies - Evidence from geo-referenced data and a large-scale policy reform," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 11-24.
    20. Evangelinos, Christos & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Marcucci, Edoardo & Gatta, Valerio, 2018. "Pricing workplace parking via cash-out: Effects on modal choice and implications for transport policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 369-380.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fringe benefits; Taxes; Distortions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:25:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10797-017-9469-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.