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Does Germany Collect Revenue from Taxing Capital Income?

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  • Johannes Becker
  • Clemens Fuest

Abstract

A widespread objection to the introduction of consumption tax systems claims that this would lead to high tax revenue losses. This paper investigates the revenue effects of a consumption tax reform in Germany. Our results suggest that the revenue losses would be surprisingly low. We find a maximum revenue loss of 1.6 percent of annual GDP. In some years, we even find a tax revenue gain. This implies that the current tax system collects little revenue from taxing the normal return to capital. Based on these results, we calculate a macroeconomic measure of the effective tax rate on capital income.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2005. "Does Germany Collect Revenue from Taxing Capital Income?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1489, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1489
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Roger H. Gordon & Joel Slemrod, 1988. "Do We Collect Any Revenue from Taxing Capital Income?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy: Volume 2, pages 89-130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2004. "A Backward Looking Measure of the Effective Marginal Tax Burden on Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 1342, CESifo.
    3. Sijbren Cnossen, 1996. "Company Taxes in the European Union: Criteria and Options for Reform," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 67-97, November.
    4. 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.
    5. Michael P. Devereux & Rachel Griffith & Alexander Klemm, 2002. "Corporate income tax reforms and international tax competition [‘Do domestic firms benefit from direct foreign investment? Evidence from Venezuela’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 449-495.
    6. Gordon, Roger & Kalambokidis, Laura & Slemrod, Joel, 2004. "Do we now collect any revenue from taxing capital income?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(5), pages 981-1009, April.
    7. Clemens Fuest & Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2002. "Tax Competition and Profit Shifting: On the Relationship between Personal and Corporate Tax Rates," CESifo Working Paper Series 781, CESifo.
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    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2011. "Optimal tax policy when firms are internationally mobile," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(5), pages 580-604, October.
    2. José Mª Durán Cabré & Alejandro Esteller Moré, 2007. "An empirical analysis of wealth taxation: Equity Vs.tax compliance," Working Papers XREAP2007-03, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Jun 2007.
    3. Alan J. Auerbach, 2006. "The Future of Capital Income Taxation," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 399-420, December.
    4. Sijbren Cnossen, 2016. "Tackling Spillovers by Taxing Corporate Income in the European Union at Source," CESifo Working Paper Series 5790, CESifo.
    5. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2005. "How much revenue loss can be expected from the introduction of a consumption tax system? Less than 1% of GDP?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 58(03), pages 23-25, February.
    6. Panteghini, Paolo M., 2006. "S-based taxation under default risk," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1923-1937, November.
    7. Gonzales-Eiras, Martín & Niepelt, Dirk, 2004. "Sustaining Social Security," Seminar Papers 731, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.

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    Keywords

    cash flow tax; tax revenue effects; effective taxation of capital income;
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