IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/fistud/v40y2019i2p175-210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Stability of Tax Elasticities over the Business Cycle in European Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Melisso Boschi
  • Stefano d'Addona

Abstract

We estimate short‐ and long‐run tax elasticities that capture the relationship between changes in national income and tax revenue. We show that the short‐run tax elasticity changes according to the business cycle. We estimate a two‐state Markov‐switching regression on a novel data set of tax policy reforms in 15 European countries from 1980 to 2013, showing that the elasticities during booms and recessions are statistically (and often economically) different. The elasticities of personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, indirect taxes and social contributions tend to be larger during recessions. Estimates of long‐run elasticities are in line with existing literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Melisso Boschi & Stefano d'Addona, 2019. "The Stability of Tax Elasticities over the Business Cycle in European Countries," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 175-210, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:40:y:2019:i:2:p:175-210
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-5890.12184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12184
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-5890.12184?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Dudine & Joao Tovar Jalles, 2018. "How Buoyant Is the Tax System? New Evidence from a Large Heterogeneous Panel," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 961-991, August.
    2. Koester, Gerrit B. & Priesmeier, Christoph, 2012. "Estimating dynamic tax revenue elasticities for Germany," Discussion Papers 23/2012, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    3. M Boschi & S d'Addona & A Goenka, 2012. "Testing external habits in an asset pricing model," CAMA Working Papers 2012-20, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    4. Sobel, Russell S. & Holcombe, Randall G., 1996. "Measuring the Growth and Variability of Tax Bases over the Business Cycle," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(4), pages 535-52, December.
    5. Martin Larch & Alessandro Turrini, 2009. "The cyclically-adjusted budget balance in EU fiscal policy making : A love at first sight turned into a mature relationship," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 374, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. Leon Bettendorf & Duncan van Limbergen, 2013. "The stability of tax elasticities in The Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 256, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    7. Guido Wolswijk, 2009. "The short- and long-run tax revenue response to changes in tax bases," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(3), pages 1960-1970.
    8. Sobel, Russell S. & Holcombe, Randall G., 1996. "Measuring the Growth and Variability of Tax Bases Over the Business Cycle," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(4), pages 535-552, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deli, Yota & Rodriguez, Abian Garcia & Kostarakos, Ilias & Varthalitis, Petros, 2018. "Dynamic tax revenue buoyancy estimates for a panel of OECD countries," Papers WP592, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    2. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Unal, 2021. "Estimating Policy-Corrected Long-Term and Short-Term Tax Elasticities for the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202112, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Karolina Konopczak & Aleksander Łożykowski, 2021. "Efekt fiskalny uszczelniania systemu podatkowego w Polsce: próba oszacowania w zakresie podatku CIT," Ekonomista, Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne, issue 1, pages 25-55.
    4. Fotini Economou & Ioanna Kountouri & Yannis Panagopoulos & Georgia Skintzi & Ekaterini Tsouma, 2022. "Estimating excise tax revenue elasticity and buoyancy for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages: evidence from Greece," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(39), pages 4557-4576, August.
    5. Plamen Nikolov & Paolo Pasimeni, 2023. "Fiscal Stabilization in the United States: Lessons for Monetary Unions," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 113-153, February.
    6. Amélie Barbier-Gauchard & Kea Baret & Alexandru Minea, 2021. "National fiscal rules and fiscal discipline in the European Union," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(20), pages 2337-2359, April.
    7. Karolina Konopczak & Aleksander Łożykowski, 2021. "Efekt fiskalny uszczelniania systemu podatkowego w Polsce: próba oszacowania w zakresie podatku CIT," Ekonomista, Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne, vol. 1, pages 25-55, January.
    8. Kéa Baret & Amélie Barbier-Gauchard & Théophilos Papadimitriou, 2021. "Forecasting the Stability and Growth Pact compliance using Machine Learning," Working Papers of BETA 2021-01, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. Jadranka Đurović Todorović & Marina Đorđević & Vera Mirović & Branimir Kalaš & Nataša Pavlović, 2024. "Modeling Tax Revenue Determinants: The Case of Visegrad Group Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Robert Kelm, 2022. "Determinants of the VAT Gap in EU Member States from 2000 to 2016," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 14(4), pages 225-262, December.
    11. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Ünal, 2023. "Estimating policy-corrected long-term and short-term tax elasticities for the USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 465-504, January.
    12. Charalambos Pattichis, 2022. "Are tax revenue elasticities consistent with a balanced government budget? An analysis and implications for six CEE countries," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 33-40.
    13. De Pascale, Gianluigi & Fiore, Mariantonietta & Contò, Francesco, 2021. "Short and long run environmental tax buoyancy in EU-28: a panel study," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1-9.
    14. Zhou, Shuya & Zhou, Peiyan & Ji, Hannah, 2022. "Can digital transformation alleviate corporate tax stickiness: The mediation effect of tax avoidance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Lagravinese, Raffaele & Liberati, Paolo & Sacchi, Agnese, 2020. "Tax buoyancy in OECD countries: New empirical evidence," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    16. Niall Conroy, 2023. "The Role of Elasticities in Forecasting Irish Income Tax Revenue," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 149-172.

    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. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Unal, 2021. "Estimating Policy-Corrected Long-Term and Short-Term Tax Elasticities for the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202112, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    2. Bernd Hayo & Sascha Mierzwa & Umut Ünal, 2023. "Estimating policy-corrected long-term and short-term tax elasticities for the USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 465-504, January.
    3. Koester, Gerrit & Priesmeier, Christoph, 2017. "Revenue elasticities in euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1989, European Central Bank.
    4. Francis Kwaw Andoh & Nehemiah E. Osoro & Eliab Luvanda, 2019. "Growth Dynamics of Value-Added Tax Revenue in Ghana," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 13(2), June.
    5. Fotini Economou & Ioanna Kountouri & Yannis Panagopoulos & Georgia Skintzi & Ekaterini Tsouma, 2022. "Estimating excise tax revenue elasticity and buoyancy for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages: evidence from Greece," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(39), pages 4557-4576, August.
    6. Gilles Mourre & Savina Princen, 2015. "Tax Revenue Elasticities Corrected for Policy Changes in the EU," European Economy - Discussion Papers 018, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    7. Lagravinese, Raffaele & Liberati, Paolo & Sacchi, Agnese, 2020. "Tax buoyancy in OECD countries: New empirical evidence," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Charalambos Pattichis, 2022. "Are tax revenue elasticities consistent with a balanced government budget? An analysis and implications for six CEE countries," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 33-40.
    9. Raffaele Lagravinese & Paolo Liberati & Agnese Sacchi, 2016. "The growth and variability of local taxes: An application to the Italian regions," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 1601, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    10. Brückner, Markus, 2012. "An instrumental variables approach to estimating tax revenue elasticities: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 220-227.
    11. Yota Deli & Derek Lambert & Martina Lawless & Kieran McQuinn & Edgar L. W. Morgenroth, 2017. "How Sensitive is Irish Income Tax Revenue to Underlying Economic Activity?," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 48(3), pages 317-336.
    12. Fricke, Hans & Süssmuth, Bernd, 2014. "Growth and Volatility of Tax Revenues in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 114-138.
    13. Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Jiri Schwarz, 2016. "Dynamic elasticities of tax revenue: evidence from the Czech Republic," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(60), pages 5866-5881, December.
    14. Tomasz Jędrzejowicz & Kamila Sławińska, 2014. "Shifting from Labor to Consumption Taxes: The Impact on Tax Revenue Volatility," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 6, pages 81-101.
    15. Sean Dougherty & Pietrangelo Biase, 2021. "Who absorbs the shock? An analysis of the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 crisis on different levels of government," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 517-540, July.
    16. di Bella, Enrico & Gandullia, Luca & Leporatti, Lucia, 2014. "Short and long run income elasticity of gambling tax bases: evidence from Italy," MPRA Paper 73757, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Igor Goncharov & Martin Jacob, 2014. "Why Do Countries Mandate Accrual Accounting for Tax Purposes?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 1127-1163, December.
    18. Joshua C. Hall & Antonios M. Koumpias, 2018. "Growth And Variability Of School District Income Tax Revenues: Is Tax Base Diversification A Good Idea For School Financing?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 678-691, October.
    19. Ismoil Khujamkulov & Sohrab Abizadeh, 2023. "Trends in tax revenues of transition economies: an empirical approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 833-868, February.
    20. Syed Ahsan & Panagiotis Tsigaris, 2002. "Measuring the Social Discount Rate under Uncertainty: A Methodology and Application," CESifo Working Paper Series 824, CESifo.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models
    • C29 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Other
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

    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:wly:fistud:v:40:y:2019:i:2:p:175-210. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-5890 .

    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.