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The revenue and base effects of local tax hikes: evidence from a quasi-experiment

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  • Thushyanthan Baskaran

    (University of Siegen)

Abstract

Due to a reform of the local equalization scheme in 2003, a set of municipalities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) increased their local property and business tax rates by one to two percentage points, while the remaining municipalities kept their rates constant. I use this variation across municipalities and over time to study the revenue and base effects of local property and business tax hikes in a generalized difference-in-differences design. The results suggest that the property tax hikes had even in the long-run a revenue elasticity of unity. Accordingly, I find no adverse effects on property tax bases. For the business tax, I find no significant effects on revenues and bases. Furthermore, there are also no effects on broader economic outcomes such as local employment, firms’ wage bill, and property prices. Overall, increasing local tax rates by one to two percentage points does not seem to affect the local economy adversely.

Suggested Citation

  • Thushyanthan Baskaran, 2021. "The revenue and base effects of local tax hikes: evidence from a quasi-experiment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(6), pages 1472-1518, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:28:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s10797-021-09657-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-021-09657-2
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    Cited by:

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    2. Anna Rauch & Caroline-Antonia Hummel, 2016. "How to stop the race to the bottom," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(5), pages 911-933, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax hikes; Tax base effects; Local business taxes; Local property taxes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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