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Relaxing Tax Competition through Public Good Differentiation

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  • Zissimos, Ben
  • Wooders, Myrna

Abstract

This paper argues that, because governments are able to relax tax competition through public good differentiation, traditionally high-tax countries have continued to set taxes at a relatively high rate even as markets have become more integrated. The key assumption is that firms vary in the extent to which public good provision reduces costs. We show that Leviathan governments are able to use this fact to relax the forces of tax competition, reducing efficiency. When firms can ‘vote with their feet’ tax competition leads firms to locate in ‘too many’ jurisdictions. A ‘minimum tax’ further relaxes tax competition, further reducing efficiency.

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  • Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2005. "Relaxing Tax Competition through Public Good Differentiation," Economic Research Papers 269630, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uwarer:269630
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269630
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    Cited by:

    1. Dembour, Carole & Wauthy, Xavier, 2009. "Investment in public infrastructure with spillovers and tax competition between contiguous regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 679-687, November.
    2. Amrita Dhillon & Myrna Wooders & Ben Zissimos, 2007. "Tax Competition Reconsidered," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(3), pages 391-423, June.
    3. Thierry Madiès & Jean-Jacques Dethier, 2012. "Fiscal Competition In Developing Countries: A Survey Of The Theoretical And Empirical Literature," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(02), pages 1-31.
    4. Zissimos, Ben & Wooders, Myrna, 2008. "Public good differentiation and the intensity of tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1105-1121, June.
    5. C. Dembour, 2008. "Competition for Business Location: A Survey," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 89-111, June.
    6. Maciej Bukowski & Piotr Lewandowski & Iza Sobiech & Andrzej Zurawski & Jan Gaska & Aleksander Sniegocki, 2011. "Employment in Poland 2010. Integration and Globalization," Books and Reports published by IBS, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych, number zwp2010 edited by Maciej Bukowski, january.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Economics; Public Economics;

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

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