IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_6537.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Wealth Taxation, Non-listed Firms, and the Risk of Entrepreneurial Investment

Author

Listed:
  • Dirk Schindler

Abstract

How to incorporate hard-to-measure assets into the wealth tax? We analyze the effect of an optimal wealth tax on risk-taking behavior and welfare when investors do not only have the standard portfolio choice with a well-diversified market portfolio, but can alternatively choose to invest all their wealth into a non-diversifiable, indivisible project. The latter is interpreted as entrepreneurial investment into a small, non-listed firm for which the actual value is hard to measure and non-verifiable. For such firms, real-world wealth tax systems base the wealth tax on deterministic book values. We show that this tax treatment does not distort the choice of projects if the tax is set optimally with an imputed interest rate on book values, actually larger than the risk-free market rate of return. The market equilibrium and a proportional tax on the market portfolio will ensure an efficient risk allocation between private and public consumption and across projects. Failing to apply an imputed inflation of book values, instead, gives rise to an implicit subsidy on entrepreneurial activity and distorts investment. Our findings also have implications for taxation of hard-to-measure assets under capital-gains and inheritance taxation.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk Schindler, 2017. "Wealth Taxation, Non-listed Firms, and the Risk of Entrepreneurial Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 6537, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6537
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp6537.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    2. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "A Theory of Optimal Inheritance Taxation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(5), pages 1851-1886, September.
    3. Auerbach, Alan J, 1991. "Retrospective Capital Gains Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 167-178, March.
    4. Keuschnigg, Christian & Nielsen, Soren Bo, 2004. "Start-ups, venture capitalists, and the capital gains tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(5), pages 1011-1042, April.
    5. Stefan Bach & Andreas Thiemann, 2016. "Reviving Germany’s Wealth Tax Creates High Revenue Potential," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 6(4/5), pages 50-59.
    6. David Seim, 2017. "Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxes: Evidence from Sweden," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 395-421, November.
    7. Marius Brülhart & Jonathan Gruber & Matthias Krapf & Kurt Schmidheiny, 2016. "Taxing Wealth: Evidence from Switzerland," CESifo Working Paper Series 5966, CESifo.
    8. Vidar Christiansen, 1993. "A Normative Analysis of Capital Income Taxes in the Presence of Aggregate Risk," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 18(1), pages 55-76, June.
    9. Agnar Sandmo, 1977. "Portfolio Theory, Asset Demand and Taxation: Comparative Statics with Many Assets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(2), pages 369-379.
    10. J. E. Stiglitz, 1969. "The Effects of Income, Wealth, and Capital Gains Taxation on Risk-Taking," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(2), pages 263-283.
    11. Kevin Spiritus & Robin Boadway, 2017. "The Optimal Taxation of Risky Capital Income: The Rate of Return Allowance," CESifo Working Paper Series 6297, CESifo.
    12. Dirk Schindler, 2008. "Taxing Risky Capital Income - A Commodity Taxation Approach," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 64(3), pages 311-333, September.
    13. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies (ed.), 2010. "Dimensions of Tax Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553754.
    14. Stijn Claessens & Konstantinos Tzioumis, 2006. "Ownership and Financing Structures of Listed and Large Non‐listed Corporations," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 266-276, July.
    15. Zoutman, Floris T., 2014. "The Effect of Capital Taxes on Household's Portfolio Composition and Intertemporal Choice: Evidence from the Dutch 2001 Capital Income Tax Reform," Discussion Papers 2014/23, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    16. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00879813 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 2002. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    18. Asa Hansson, 2008. "The Wealth Tax and Entrepreneurial Activity," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 17(2), pages 139-156, September.
    19. Roger H. Gordon, 1985. "Taxation of Corporate Capital Income: Tax Revenues Versus Tax Distortions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(1), pages 1-27.
    20. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Hansen, Pierre, 1982. "Uncertainty and the partial loss offset provision," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 31-35.
    21. Sandmo, Agnar, 1985. "The effects of taxation on savings and risk taking," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, pages 265-311, Elsevier.
    22. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 2002. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    23. A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), 1985. "Handbook of Public Economics," Handbook of Public Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    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. Bjerksund, Petter & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2019. "Does a Wealth Tax Discriminate against Domestic Investors?," Discussion Papers 2019/16, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.

    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. Spencer Bastani & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "How Should Capital Be Taxed?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 812-846, September.
    2. Robin Boadway & Kevin Spiritus, 2021. "Optimal Taxation of Normal and Excess Returns to Risky Assets," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-025/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    4. Schindler, Dirk, 2008. "Human Capital, Multiple Income Risk and Social Insurance," Discussion Papers 2008/18, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    5. Dirk Schindler, 2008. "Taxing Risky Capital Income - A Commodity Taxation Approach," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 64(3), pages 311-333, September.
    6. Kent A. Smetters, 2003. "Trading with the Unborn: A New Perspective on Capital Income Taxation," NBER Working Papers 9412, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Konrad, Kai A., 1989. "Kapitaleinkommensteuern und beschleunigte Abschreibungen bei Unsicherheit," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(3), pages 404-427.
    8. Giampaolo Arachi & Massimo D'Antoni, 2022. "Taxation of capital gains upon accrual: is it really more efficient than realisation?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 39-61, March.
    9. Katrine Jakobsen & Kristian Jakobsen & Henrik Kleven & Gabriel Zucman, 2020. "Wealth Taxation and Wealth Accumulation: Theory and Evidence From Denmark," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 329-388.
    10. Glogowsky, Ulrich, 2021. "Behavioral responses to inheritance and gift taxation: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    11. Schindler, Dirk, 2003. "Optimal Income Taxation with a Risky Asset: The Triple Income Tax," CoFE Discussion Papers 03/11, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
    12. Florian Scheuer & Joel Slemrod, 2020. "Taxation and the Superrich," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 189-211, August.
    13. Aart Gerritsen & Bas Jacobs & Alexandra V. Rusu & Kevin Spiritus, 2020. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income with Heterogeneous Rates of Return," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-038/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Kent Smetters, 2001. "The Equivalence of the Social Security's Trust Fund Portfolio Allocation and Capital Income Tax Policy," NBER Working Papers 8259, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Sims, Theodore S., 2015. "Income taxation, wealth effects, and uncertainty: Portfolio adjustments with isoelastic utility and discrete probability," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 52-54.
    16. Smetters, Kent, 2006. "Risk sharing across generations without publicly owned equities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1493-1508, October.
    17. Alena Bachleitner, 2017. "Abolishing the Wealth Tax. A Case Study for Germany," WIFO Working Papers 545, WIFO.
    18. Konrad, Kai A., 1991. "Taxation and risk taking in a capital market equilibrium with self-selection," EconStor Research Reports 112683, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    19. Kevin Spiritus & Robin Boadway, 2017. "The Optimal Taxation of Risky Capital Income: The Rate of Return Allowance," CESifo Working Paper Series 6297, CESifo.
    20. Louis Kaplow, 1991. "Taxation and Risk Taking: A General Equilibrium Perspective," NBER Working Papers 3709, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth taxation; portfolio choice; non-listed firms; risk diversification; hard-to-measure assets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_6537. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.