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Evidence for profit shifting with tax sensitive capital stocks

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  • Loretz, Simon
  • Mokkas, Socrates

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature providing indirect evidence for profit shifting within multinational companies. In contrast to the previous studies we account for the tax responsiveness of the capital stock and analyse the impact of corporate taxes on both pre- and post-tax profitability. Evidence from our large panel dataset of European subsidiaries supports the profit shifting hypothesis. We find that a 10 percentage point decrease in the tax rate increases post-tax profitability by up to 1.1 percentage points. Further, our results suggest that financial profits and losses are particularly responsive to taxes, which indicates that a large part of profit shifting takes places via debt shifting.

Suggested Citation

  • Loretz, Simon & Mokkas, Socrates, 2013. "Evidence for profit shifting with tax sensitive capital stocks," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79847, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79847
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    Cited by:

    1. Castillo Murciego, Ángela & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Are Spanish companies involved in profit shifting? Consequences in terms of tax revenues," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-47.
    2. Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Multinationals' profit response to tax differentials: Effect size and shifting channels," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-045, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Grosskurth, Philipp, 2019. "Dynamic structure - Dynamic results? Re-estimating profit shifting with historical ownership data," Ruhr Economic Papers 811, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    4. Sebastian Beer & Ruud de Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Review Of The Channels, Magnitudes, And Blind Spots," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 660-688, July.
    5. Dominika Langenmayr & Li Liu, 2020. "Where Does Multinational Profit Go with Territorial Taxation? Evidence from the UK," CESifo Working Paper Series 8047, CESifo.
    6. Langenmayr, Dominika & Liu, Li, 2023. "Home or away? Profit shifting with territorial taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    7. Alex Cobham & Petr Janský, 2019. "Measuring misalignment: The location of US multinationals’ economic activity versus the location of their profits," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 91-110, January.
    8. Daniel Anarfi & Danuše Nerudová, 2017. "Profit-Shifting Activities in the Mining Sector: Evidence from the Czech Republic," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 5-12.
    9. Jost H. Heckemeyer & Michael Overesch, 2017. "Multinationals’ profit response to tax differentials: Effect size and shifting channels," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 965-994, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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