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Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces

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  • Ergete Ferede

Abstract

We examine the effects of personal income tax progressivity—in the sense of rising marginal income tax rate—on self-employment. The impacts of income tax progressivity on self-employment depend on the relative effects of taxing success and the presence of tax evasion opportunities. Empirical estimates using Canadian provincial data for the period 1979–2006 indicate that there is a negative association between income tax progressivity and self-employment. This suggests that the adverse impact of income tax on entrepreneurial risk-taking outweighs the tax evasion opportunities for the self-employed. An important implication of our results is that a reduction in income tax progressivity encourages self-employment. The empirical estimates are robust to the various sensitivity checks. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Ergete Ferede, 2013. "Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 141-153, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:40:y:2013:i:1:p:141-153
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-011-9350-7
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ege Can, 2022. "Income taxation, entrepreneurship, and incorporation status of self-employment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(5), pages 1260-1293, October.
    2. Jack Mintz & Patrick Smith & V. Balaji Venkatachalam, 2021. "A New Approach to Improving Small-Business Tax Competitiveness," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 14(24), October.
    3. Jean-François Wen & Daniel V. Gordon, 2014. "An Empirical Model of Tax Convexity and Self-Employment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 471-482, July.
    4. Bradley Heim & Ithai Lurie, 2014. "Does health reform affect self-employment? Evidence from Massachusetts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 917-930, December.
    5. Ergete Ferede, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and personal income tax: evidence from Canadian provinces," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1765-1781, April.
    6. Can, Ege & Fossen, Frank M., 2023. "Income Taxation and Hours Worked in Different Types of Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 16683, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Self-employment; Tax progressivity; Occupational choice; H24; J23; J24; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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