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New Employer Payroll Taxes and Entrepreneurship

Author

Listed:
  • Audrey Guo

    (Santa Clara University)

  • Melanie Wallskog

    (Duke University)

Abstract

How costly are taxes for young firms? In this paper, we demonstrate that even small payroll taxes significantly distort entry, growth, and hiring decisions. First, leveraging cross-sectional variation in the taxes faced by new employers, we find that higher taxes discourage new firms from hiring their first workers, with an elasticity of the number of new employers to taxes of -0.1. Second, studying changes in taxes after entry, we find that higher taxes lead more firms to exit, while also reducing employment for those who survive and leading some firms to avoid taxes by using non-taxable contract labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrey Guo & Melanie Wallskog, 2024. "New Employer Payroll Taxes and Entrepreneurship," Upjohn Working Papers 24-410, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:24-410
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    File URL: https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1430&context=up_workingpapers
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    firm entry; young firms; labor costs; unemployment insurance;
    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
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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