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Corporate Tax Competition and the Decline of Public Investment

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  • Pedro Gomes
  • Francois Pouget

Abstract

The government’s choices of the corporate tax rate and public investment are interdependent. In particular, they both respond positively to the other. Therefore, international tax competition not only drives corporate tax rates to lower levels but might also affect negatively the stock of public capital. We build a general equilibrium model that illustrates the relation between the two variables. We then add an element of international tax competition. Our simulations show that when international tax competition drives the statutory tax rate down from 45% to 30%, public investment is reduced by 0.4% of output at the steady state. The short run effect is three times higher. The second part of our study displays an empirical analysis that corroborates the main outcome of the model. We estimate two policy functions for 21 OECD countries and find that corporate tax rate and public investment are endogenous. More precisely, a decline of 15% in the corporate tax rate reduces public investment by 0.6% to 1.1% of GDP. We also find evidence that international competition operates on both policy tools.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Gomes & Francois Pouget, 2008. "Corporate Tax Competition and the Decline of Public Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 2384, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2384
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    Cited by:

    1. Heike Joebges, 2017. "Crisis recovery in a country with a high presence of foreign owned companies," IMK Working Paper 175-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    2. Hansson, Åsa & Porter, Susan & Perry Williams, Susan, 2012. "The Effect of Political and Economic Factors on Corporate Tax Rates," Working Paper Series 942, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Jolanta Galuszka, 2013. "The Fiscal Union As A Remedy For The Economic And Financial Crisis In The European Union," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 8(1), pages 49-67, March.
    4. Till Gross, 2021. "Dynamic Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Transfer Union," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 194-238, October.
    5. Peter J. Stauvermann & Ronald R. Kumar, 2015. "The Dilemma of International Capital Tax Competition in the Presence of Public Capital and Endogenous Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 16(2), pages 255-272, November.
    6. Neumann, Rebecca & Holman, Jill & Alm, James, 2009. "Globalization and tax policy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 193-211, August.
    7. Teguh Dartanto, 2012. "The 2008 Corporate Income Tax Reform and Its Contribution to Poverty Reduction in Indonesia," Working Papers in Economics and Business 201203, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, revised Apr 2012.
    8. Carsten Eckel & Yutao Han & Kate Hynes & Jin Zhang, 2021. "Structural fund, endogenous move and commitment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(2), pages 465-482, April.
    9. Heike Joebges, 2017. "Crisis recovery in a country with a high presence of foreign owned companies," IMK Working Paper 175-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    10. Hauptmeier, Sebastian & Mittermaier, Ferdinand & Rincke, Johannes, 2012. "Fiscal competition over taxes and public inputs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 407-419.
    11. Åsa Hansson & Susan Porter & Susan Williams, 2015. "The importance of the political process on corporate tax policy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 281-306, September.
    12. Hannes Winner, 2012. "Fiscal Competition and the Composition of Public Expenditure: An Empirical Study," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 6(3), September.
    13. Till Gross, 2013. "Capital Tax Competition and Dynamic Optimal Taxation," Carleton Economic Papers 13-08, Carleton University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax competition; corporate tax; public investment; public capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures

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