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Tax Setting in a Federal System: The Case of Personal Income Taxation in Canada

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Author Info
Alejandro Esteller () (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB); Universitat de Barcelona (UB))
Albert Solé () (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB); Universitat de Barcelona (UB))

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Abstract

In a decentralised tax system, the effects of tax policies enacted by one government are not confined to its own jurisdiction. First, if the tax base is mobile, tax rate increases by one regional government will raise the amount of taxes collected by other regional governments (horizontal tax externality). Second, if both the regional and the federal levels of government co-occupy the same fields of taxation, tax rate increases by one layer of government will reduce taxes collected by the other (vertical tax externality). Third, as Smart (1998) shows, if equalisation transfers are present, an increase in the standard equalisation tax rate provides incentives to raise taxes to the receiving provinces. In order to check the empirical relevance of these hypotheses, this paper estimates provincial tax setting functions with data on Canadian personal income taxation for the period 1982-96. We find a significant positive response of provincial tax rates to changes in the federal income tax rate, the tax rates of competing provinces, and the standard equalisation rate (only for receiving provinces). We also find that the reaction to horizontal competition is stronger in the provinces that do not receive equalisation transfers.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB) in its series Working Papers with number 2001/9.

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Length: 43 pages
Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:ieb:wpaper:243567art178

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Related research
Keywords: Equalisation grants; Fiscal federalism; Personal income tax; Tax competition;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

References listed on IDEAS
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  14. Alejandro Esteller & Albert Solé, 2001. "Tax Setting in a Federal System: The Case of Personal Income Taxation in Canada," Working Papers 2001/9, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB). [Downloadable!]
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Thiess Büttner & Sebastian Hauptmeier & Robert Schwager, 2006. "Efficient Revenue Sharing and Upper Level Governments: Theory and Application to Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Fredriksson, Per & Mamun, Khawaja, 2009. "Tobacco Politics and Electoral Accountability in the United States," Working Papers 2009003, Sacred Heart University, John F. Welch College of Business. [Downloadable!]
  3. Linda Andersson & Thomas Aronsson & Magnus Wikström, 2004. "Testing for Vertical Fiscal Externalities," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 243-263, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Albert Solé-Ollé, 2002. "Tax Setting in a Federal System: The Case of Personal Income Taxation in Canada," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 235-257, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Marko Köthenbürger, 2002. "Tax Competition and Fiscal Equalization," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 391-408, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Marius BRÜLHART & Mario JAMETTI, 2004. "Vertical Versus Horizontal Tax Externalities: An Empirical Test," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) 04.11, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Diego Martínez-López, 2005. "On the states' behavior with equalization grants," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2005/03, Centro de Estudios Andaluces. [Downloadable!]
  8. Rizzo, Leonzio, 2006. "Local government responsiveness to federal transfers: theory and evidence," MPRA Paper 5373, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Fredriksson, Per & Mamun, Khawaja, 2009. "Gubernatorial Reputation and Vertical Tax Externalities: All Smoke, No Fire?," Working Papers 2009002, Sacred Heart University, John F. Welch College of Business. [Downloadable!]
  10. Lisa Grazzini & Alessandro Petretto, 2006. "Vertical Tax Competition with Tax Sharing and Equalization Grants," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 65(1), pages 75-94, May. [Downloadable!]
  11. Federico Revelli, 2005. "On Spatial Public Finance Empirics," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 475-492, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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