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The Effect of Sales Taxes on Employment: New Evidence From Cross-Border Panel Data Analysis

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  • Thompson, Jeffrey P.
  • Rohlin, Shawn M.

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of sales taxes on employment using county-level quarterly data and a "border approach," comparing employment changes for counties in states that raised sales tax rates with their cross-border neighbors. We augment standard distance-related border measures with an economically-oriented border measure based on the share of county residents who work in a neighboring state. We find that the employment effects are larger in the retail trade industry and for female workers, and that they are concentrated in counties with relatively large shares of residents working in another state.

Suggested Citation

  • Thompson, Jeffrey P. & Rohlin, Shawn M., 2012. "The Effect of Sales Taxes on Employment: New Evidence From Cross-Border Panel Data Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(4), pages 1023-1041, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:65:y:2012:i:4:p:1023-41
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2012.4.15
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John M. Abowd & Bryce E. Stephens & Lars Vilhuber & Fredrik Andersson & Kevin L. McKinney & Marc Roemer & Simon Woodcock, 2009. "The LEHD Infrastructure Files and the Creation of the Quarterly Workforce Indicators," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 149-230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Walsh, Michael J. & Jones, Jonathan D., 1988. "More Evidence on the "Border Tax" Effect: The Case of West Virginia, 1979-84," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 41(2), pages 261-65, June.
    3. Ronald C. Fisher, 1980. "Local Sales Taxes: Tax Rate Differentials, Sales Loss, and Revenue Estimation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 8(2), pages 171-188, April.
    4. William H. Hoyt & J. William Harden, 2005. "MSA Location and the Impact of State Taxes on Employment and Population: A Comparison of Border and Interior MSA's," Working Papers 2005-01, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    5. Rohlin, Shawn & Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Ross, Amanda, 2014. "Tax avoidance and business location in a state border model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 34-49.
    6. repec:kap:iaecre:v:16:y:2010:i:2:p:135-148 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dan Rickman & Hongbo Wang, 2020. "U.S. State And Local Fiscal Policy And Economic Activity: Do We Know More Now?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 424-465, April.
    2. Beatrix Eugster & Raphaël Parchet, 2011. "Culture and Taxes: Towards Identifying Tax Competition," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 11.05, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    3. Agrawal, David R., 2014. "LOST in America: Evidence on local sales taxes from national panel data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 147-163.
    4. Saxon, Nicholas & Tosun, Mehmet S. & Yang, Jingjing, 2015. "State and Local Sales Taxes and Business Activity in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 9413, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Rohlin, Shawn M. & Thompson, Jeffrey P., 2018. "Local sales taxes, employment, and tax competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 373-383.
    6. Shawn M. Rohlin & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2013. "The effect of state and local sales taxes on employment at state borders," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-49, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Carlianne Patrick, 2014. "Does Increasing Available Non-Tax Economic Development Incentives Result in More Jobs?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(2), pages 351-386, June.
    8. Jongmin Shon, 2022. "Tax Competition over Tax Base: An Evidence of Local Sales Tax in California Counties," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 241(2), pages 59-77, June.
    9. Melissa Gentry & Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley & Shawn M. Rohlin & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2020. "Dynamic Sales Tax Competition: Evidence from Panel Data at the Border," Working Papers 20-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    10. Enami, Ali & Reynolds, C. Lockwood & Rohlin, Shawn M., 2023. "The effect of property taxes on businesses: Evidence from a dynamic regression discontinuity approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    11. Daria Burnes & David Neumark & Michelle J. White, 2014. "Fiscal Zoning and Sales Taxes: Do Higher Sales Taxes Lead to More Retailing and Less Manufacturing?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(1), pages 7-50, March.
    12. Agrawal, David R. & Trandel, Gregory A., 2019. "Dynamics of policy adoption with state dependence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Eric James Stokan, 2019. "An Estimate of the Local Economic Impact of State-Level Earned Income Tax Credits," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(3), pages 170-186, August.
    14. David Mitchell & Whitney Davis & Rebecca Hendrick, 2021. "Learning from the Joneses: The professional learning effect of regional councils of government on municipal fiscal slack in suburban Chicago," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 3-21, June.
    15. Beatrix Eugster & Raphaël Parchet, 2019. "Culture and Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 296-337.
    16. Timothy M. Komarek, 2020. "State‐level austerity, education, and large urban labor markets: Evidence from fiscal policy experiments in Kansas and Wisconsin," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 556-583, June.

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