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Why the Current Tax Rate Tells You Little: Competing for Mobile and Immobile Firms

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  • Dominika Langenmayr
  • Martin Simmler

Abstract

Firms should use all available information to anticipate future tax rates. Firm mobility, as a key determinant of corporate tax rates, is one such source of information. We first show theoretically that a government sets a higher tax rates on firm profits if average firm mobility in its jurisdiction is low, and that the potential entry of immobile firms in the future deters firms from entering a jurisdiction today. We then test and confirm these predictions in a well-identified setting, using the rapid growth of wind power plants (a very immobile industry) and the large variation in local business taxes across Germany for identification.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominika Langenmayr & Martin Simmler, 2017. "Why the Current Tax Rate Tells You Little: Competing for Mobile and Immobile Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 6827, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6827
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    Cited by:

    1. Schneider, Andrea, 2017. "Policy diffusion and the competition for mobile resources," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168203, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Germeshausen, Robert & Heim, Sven & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2021. "Support for renewable energy: The case of wind power," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-074, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Haupt, Alexander & Krieger, Tim, 2020. "The role of relocation mobility in tax and subsidy competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate taxation; firm mobility; commitment; tax competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

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