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Saving Taxes Through Foreign Plant Ownership

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  • Peter Egger
  • Wolfgang Eggert
  • Hannes Winner

Abstract

This paper analyzes to which extent foreign plant ownership involves lower tax payments than domestic plant ownership. We employ a model of endogenous foreign subsidiary ownership to derive a set of empirically testable hypotheses about the differential taxation of foreign- and domestically-owned subsidiaries. We assess these hypotheses in a data- set of 33,577 European foreign- and domestically-owned manufacturing plants. We identify a significant tax-saving of endogenous foreign owner- ship. On average, foreign owners pay 594 Euros per employee or about 56 percent less than domestic owners of similar subsidiaries. This effect is larger in thinner markets with fewer plants, in markets with a greater relative presence of foreign owners, and for foreign owners of larger plants.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Egger & Wolfgang Eggert & Hannes Winner, 2007. "Saving Taxes Through Foreign Plant Ownership," CESifo Working Paper Series 1887, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1887
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    company taxation; multinational firms; propensity score matching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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