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Does Tax Competition Tame the Leviathan?

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Author Info
Brülhart, Marius
Jametti, Mario

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Abstract

We study the impact of tax competition on equilibrium taxes and welfare, focusing on the jurisdictional fragmentation of federations. In a representative-agent model of fiscal federalism, fragmentation among jurisdictions with benevolent tax-setting authorities unambiguously reduces welfare. If, however, tax-setting authorities pursue revenue maximization, fragmentation, by pushing down equilibrium tax rates, may under certain conditions increase citizen welfare. We exploit the highly decentralized and heterogeneous Swiss fiscal system as a laboratory for the estimation of these effects. While for purely direct-democratic jurisdictions (which we associate with benevolent tax setting) we find that tax rates increase in fragmentation, fragmentation has a moderating effect on the tax rates of jurisdictions with some degree of delegated government. Our results thereby support the view that tax competition can be second-best welfare enhancing by constraining the scope for public-sector revenue maximization.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 6512.

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Date of creation: Oct 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6512

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Related research
Keywords: direct democracy fiscal federalism government preferences optimal taxation tax competition

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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