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The Rise of Private Foundations as Owners of Swedish Industry: The Role of Tax Incentives 1862–2018

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Abstract

The tax system has at times favoured firm control through private foundations, which has been argued to inhibit high-impact entrepreneurship and economic growth. However, research has been hampered due to a lack of systematic historical tax data. The purpose of this study is threefold. First, we describe the evolution of tax rules for private foundations in Sweden between 1862 and 2018. Second, we calculate the marginal effective tax rate on capital income. Third, we examine the incentives to use private foundations as a means for corporate control by comparing the taxation of private foundations and of high-impact entrepreneurs. Tax incentives help explain why economically significant private foundations were founded between World War I and the 1960s.

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  • Johansson, Dan & Stenkula, Mikael & Wykman, Niklas, 2018. "The Rise of Private Foundations as Owners of Swedish Industry: The Role of Tax Incentives 1862–2018," Working Papers 2018:10, Örebro University, School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2018_010
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    1. Henrekson, Magnus & Sanandaji, Tino, 2013. "Small Business Activity Does not Measure Entrepreneurship," Working Paper Series 959, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 26 Jan 2014.
    2. Almas Heshmati & Dan Johansson & Carl Magnus Bjuggren, 2010. "Effective Corporate Tax Rates and the Size Distribution of Firms," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 297-317, September.
    3. Gunnar Rietz & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2015. "Swedish Capital Income Taxation (1862–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Magnus Henrekson & Mikael Stenkula (ed.), Swedish Taxation, chapter 0, pages 123-178, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula & Gunnar Du Rietz, 2015. "Capital income taxation of Swedish households, 1862-2010," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 154-177, June.
    5. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2010. "Gazelles as job creators: a survey and interpretation of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 227-244, September.
    6. 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.
    7. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2008. "Competencies and Institutions Fostering High-growth Firms," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(1), pages 1-80, November.
    8. Magnus Henrekson, 2005. "Entrepreneurship: a weak link in the welfare state?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(3), pages 437-467, June.
    9. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2010. "Taxation, Labor Market Policy and High-Impact Entrepreneurship," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 275-296, September.
    10. Henrekson Magnus, 2017. "Taxation of Swedish Firm Owners: The Great Reversal from the 1970s to the 2010s," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2017(1), pages 26-46, January.
    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. Acs, Zoltan J., 2008. "Foundations of High Impact Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 4(6), pages 535-620, June.
    13. 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.
    14. Alex Coad & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Werner Hölzl & Dan Johansson & Paul Nightingale, 2014. "High-growth firms: introduction to the special section," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(1), pages 91-112, February.
    15. Ulf Jakobsson & Magnus Henrekson, 2001. "Where Schumpeter was nearly right - the Swedish model and Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 331-358.
    16. Fredrik W. Andersson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson & Magnus Lodefalk & Andreas Poldahl, 2018. "The characteristics of family firms: exploiting information on ownership, kinship, and governance using total population data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 539-556, October.
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    18. Stenkula Mikael, 2014. "Swedish Taxation in a 150-year Perspective," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2014(2), pages 10-42, November.
    19. Mikael Stenkula & Dan Johansson & Gunnar Du Rietz, 2014. "Marginal taxation on labour income in Sweden from 1862 to 2010," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 163-187, June.
    20. 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, March.
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    1. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Mikael Stenkula, 2020. "The rise and decline of industrial foundations as controlling owners of Swedish listed firms: the role of tax incentives," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(2), pages 170-191, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    family firms; foundations; high-impact entrepreneurship; owner; taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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