IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/btx/wpaper/1005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Impact of Tax Rate Cut Cum Base Broadening Reforms on Heterogeneous Firms – Learning from the German Tax Reform 2008

Author

Listed:
  • Katharina Finke

    (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW))

  • Jost H. Heckemeyer

    (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW))

  • Timo Reister

    (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW),)

  • Christoph Spengel

    (University of Mannheim)

Abstract

The German corporate tax reform of 2008 has brought about important cuts in corporate tax rates, which were at the same time accompanied by significant changes in the determination of the tax base for both major German corporate taxes - corporate income tax and trade tax. The reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax rate cut cum base broadening. Its implications are thus not unique to Germany. Especially in view of the current economic crisis, questions on the distribution of the tax burden among firms of different characteristics have arisen and still remain at the heart of the academic and political debate in Germany and other countries. In this paper we present a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, which allows for the coherent micro-based analysis of revenue implications of tax reforms and the distribution of tax consequences among heterogeneous firms. The model processes firm-level financial accounting input data and derives the firm specific tax base and tax due endogenously in accordance with the tax code. To smooth out distortions between the sample and the population of German corporations, the sample is extrapolated on the basis of the corporate income tax statistic. The simulation results show inter alia that less than 5% of all corporations did not benefit from the reform. The average annual relief as measured by the average decline in the effective tax burden on cash flows amounts to 2.8 percentage points for large corporations and to 6 percentage points for small corporations. Furthermore, the results illustrate that firms with low profitability, high debt ratio and high capital intensity benefit least from the reform. As to tax revenues, the reform induced decrease amounts to € 9.8 billion and the trade tax gains fiscally in importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina Finke & Jost H. Heckemeyer & Timo Reister & Christoph Spengel, 2010. "Impact of Tax Rate Cut Cum Base Broadening Reforms on Heterogeneous Firms – Learning from the German Tax Reform 2008," Working Papers 1005, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
  • Handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:1005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Business_Taxation/Docs/Publications/Working_Papers/Series_10/WP1005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Boadway, Robin & Bruce, Neil, 1984. "A general proposition on the design of a neutral business tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 231-239, July.
    2. Michael P. Devereux, 2003. "Measuring Taxes on Income from Capital," CESifo Working Paper Series 962, CESifo.
    3. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 31-86, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. John Creedy, 2001. "Tax Modelling," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 77(237), pages 189-202, June.
    5. Asea, Patrick K. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 1998. "Capital income taxation and risk-taking in a small open economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 55-90, April.
    6. Andrew B. Abel, 2007. "Optimal Capital Income Taxation," NBER Working Papers 13354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. David Cass, 1965. "Optimum Growth in an Aggregative Model of Capital Accumulation," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 233-240.
    8. Radulescu, Doina & Stimmelmayr, Michael, 2010. "The impact of the 2008 German corporate tax reform: A dynamic CGE analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 454-467, January.
    9. Gordon, Roger H & Wilson, John Douglas, 1989. "Measuring the Efficiency Cost of Taxing Risky Capital Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 427-439, June.
    10. Michael Devereux & Alexander Klemm, 2003. "Measuring taxes on income from capital: evidence from the UK," IFS Working Papers W03/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    11. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "Introduction to "The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany"," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 1-6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Filippo Oropallo & Valentino Parisi, 2007. "Will Italy’s Tax Reform Reduce the Corporate Tax Burden? A Microsimulation Analysis," Rivista di statistica ufficiale, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY), vol. 9(1), pages 31-58, march.
    13. Bulow, Jeremy I & Summers, Lawrence H, 1984. "The Taxation of Risky Assets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(1), pages 20-39, February.
    14. Stefan Bach & Hermann Buslei & Nadja Dwenger & Frank Fossen, 2008. "Dokumentation des Mikrosimulationsmodells BizTax zur Unternehmensbesteuerung in Deutschland," Data Documentation 29, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Joao Gomes & Leonid Kogan & Lu Zhang, 2003. "Equilibrium Cross Section of Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(4), pages 693-732, August.
    16. Arntz, Melanie & Boeters, Stefan & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Schubert, Stefanie, 2008. "Analysing welfare reform in a microsimulation-AGE model: The value of disaggregation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 422-439, May.
    17. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The United States," NBER Chapters, in: The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, pages 193-267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Roger H. Gordon, 1985. "Taxation of Corporate Capital Income: Tax Revenues Versus Tax Distortions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-27.
    19. Mervyn A. King & Don Fullerton, 1984. "The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number king84-1, January.
    20. Jaksa Cvitanic & Fernando Zapatero, 2004. "Introduction to the Economics and Mathematics of Financial Markets," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262532654, December.
    21. Fane, G., 1987. "Neutral taxation under uncertainty," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 95-105, June.
    22. Peichl, Andreas & Fuest, Clemens & Schaefer, Thilo, 2005. "Dokumentation FiFoSiM: Integriertes Steuer-Transfer-Mikrosimulations- und CGE-Modell," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 05-3, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    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. Aria Ardalan & Sebastian G. Kessing & Salmai Qari & Malte Zoubek, 2023. "Does capital bear the burden of local corporate taxes? Evidence from Germany," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 194-23, Universität Siegen, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik und Wirtschaftsrecht.
    2. Bauer, Christian & Davies, Ronald B. & Haufler, Andreas, 2014. "Economic integration and the optimal corporate tax structure with heterogeneous firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 42-56.
    3. Thomas Hoppe & Ralf Maiterth & Caren Sureth-Sloane, 2016. "Eigenkapitalverzehr und Substanzbesteuerung deutscher Unternehmen durch eine Vermögensteuer – eine empirische Analyse [Wealth Tax-Induced Equity Loss and Asset Erosion of German Companies – An Empi," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 3-45, April.
    4. Christoph Spengel & Sebastian Lazar & Lisa Evers & Benedikt Zinn, 2012. "Reduction of the effective corporate tax burden in Romania 1992--2012 and Romania's current ranking among the Central and Eastern European EU member states," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 477-502, August.
    5. Finke, Katharina & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Spengel, Christoph, 2014. "Assessing the impact of introducing an ACE regime: A behavioural corporate microsimulation analysis for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Michael Stimmelmayr, 2018. "Investors' Portfolio Choice and Tax Reforms: The 2008 German Corporate Tax Reform Reconsidered," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 74(3), pages 376-413, September.
    7. Jens Müller & Caren Sureth, 2011. "Marktnahe Bewertung von Unternehmen nach der Erbschaftsteuerreform?," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 63(63), pages 45-83, January.
    8. Claudia Neugebauer & Kerstin Schneider, 2011. "Die Gewerbesteuer in der Unternehmensteuerreform 2008 — Eine Simulation der Aufkommens- und Belastungseffekte," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 63(8), pages 832-857, December.
    9. Bofinger, Peter & Schnabel, Isabel & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2015. "Zukunftsfähigkeit in den Mittelpunkt. Jahresgutachten 2015/16 [Focus on Future Viability. Annual Report 2015/16]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201516.
    10. Anna Leszczyłowska, 2016. "Provisions for Future Liabilities and Effective Corporate Income Tax Rate," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 57-72.
    11. Wagner, Julia, 2015. "EBITDA-Vortrag - cui bono? Eine Gesetzesevaluation auf Basis einer Mikrosimulation," Discussion Papers 2015/31, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    12. Annelies Roggeman & Isabelle Verleyen & Philippe Van Cauwenberge & Carine Coppens, 2014. "Impact of a Common Corporate Tax Base on the effective tax burden in Belgium," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 530-543, June.
    13. Spengel, Christoph & Lazar, Sebastian & Evers, Lisa & Zinn, Benedikt, 2012. "Romania's development to a low-tax country: Effective corporate tax burden in Romania from 1992 to 2010 and Romania's current ranking among the eastern European member states," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-003, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Stepan S. Bykov & Horst Zimmermann, 2018. "Tax expenditure as a problem in intergovernmental relations," Journal of Tax Reform, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 4(1), pages 27-44.

    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. Jost HECKEMEYER & Katharina FINKE & Christoph SPENGEL, 2010. "ZEW TaxCoMM - A Corporate Tax Microsimulation Model. Concept and Application to the 2008 German Corporate Tax Reform," EcoMod2010 259600072, EcoMod.
    2. Francesco Menoncin & Paolo M. Panteghini, 2013. "The Johansson-Samuelson Theorem in General Equilibrium: A Rebuttal," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 69(1), pages 57-71, March.
    3. Michael Devereux, 2003. "Measuring taxes on income from capital," IFS Working Papers W03/04, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Kenneth McKenzie & Jack Mintz, 1992. "Tax Effects on the Cost of Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Canada-U.S. Tax Comparisons, pages 189-216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Magnus Henrekson & Tino Sanandaji, 2011. "Entrepreneurship and the theory of taxation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 167-185, September.
    6. Dorota Wawrzyniak, 2013. "Opodatkowanie przedsiębiorstw jako determinanta bezpośrednich inwestycji zagranicznych w krajach Unii Europejskiej," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 37-55.
    7. Finke, Katharina & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Spengel, Christoph, 2014. "Assessing the impact of introducing an ACE regime: A behavioural corporate microsimulation analysis for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Roger Gordon & Laura Kalambokidis & Joel Slemrod, 2003. "A New Summary Measure of the Effective Tax Rate on Investment," NBER Working Papers 9535, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Félix Domínguez Barrero & Julio López Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo Sauco, 2005. "Do Corporate and Personal Income Taxes Affect Incorporation?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 174(3), pages 55-86, September.
    10. Sanz Labrador, Ismael & Sanz-Sanz, José Félix, 2013. "Política fiscal y crecimiento económico: consideraciones microeconómicas y relaciones macroeconómicas," Macroeconomía del Desarrollo 5367, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    11. Ernesto Zangari, 2020. "An economic assessment of the evolution of the corporate tax system in Italy," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1291, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Devereux, Michael, 2003. "Taxing Risky Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 4053, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Easterly, William & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: An empirical investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 417-458, December.
    14. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg, 2010. "Transition Strategies in Fundamental Tax Reform," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2010 2010-10, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    15. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 2002. "Political economics and public finance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1549-1659, Elsevier.
    16. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Ratio Working Papers 150, The Ratio Institute.
    17. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 1999. "Institutional Effects on the Evolution of the Size Distribution of Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 11-23, February.
    18. Leo Bonato, 1999. "Price stability: Some costs and benefits in New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 27-49.
    19. Daphne Chen & Shi Qi & Don Schlagenhauf, 2018. "Corporate Income Tax, Legal Form of Organization, and Employment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 270-304, October.
    20. John B. Burbidge & Kirk A. Collins & James B. Davies & Lonnie Magee, 2012. "Effective tax and subsidy rates on human capital in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(1), pages 189-219, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax reform; microsimulation; tax policy evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law
    • C8 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs

    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:btx:wpaper:1005. 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: Dongxian Guo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sbsoxuk.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.