According to Harberger’s 1962 and 1966 seminal papers, the corporate income tax distorts the allocation of capital between the corporate and the non-corporate sector and reduces therefore aggregate output. To quantify this efficiency loss we apply a dynamic, computable, general equilibrium growth model. We compare the allocation of capital under the current, non-uniform German tax system with the allocation of capital arising from a hypothetical, sector neutral tax system where both sectors face the same effective tax burden. Our numerical results underpin the theoretical finding, that the loss in overall output is highly sensitive to the source of investment funds. Accordingly, if investments are exclusively financed via new share issues the efficiency loss amounts to nearly 2 percent of aggregate output. However, if less than half of overall investments are financed via new equity injections the efficiency loss is almost negligible.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich in its series Ifo Working Paper Series with number
Ifo Working Papers No. 26.