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The Political Economy of Corporate Tax Harmonization: Why Do European Politicians (Dis)like Minimum Tax Rates?

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  • Osterloh, Steffen
  • Heinemann, Friedrich

Abstract

Setting minimum tax rates is a well discussed way of mitigating pressure from tax competition. This paper investigates which motives shape the support for a minimum corporate tax among politicians. We make use of a unique data base: a survey among members of the European parliament. Our results confirm that the politicians' ideology as well as individual characteristics such as educational background exert a major in uence. Moreover, several predictions regarding national interests are derived from various standard tax competition models. These hypotheses are partly supported by the data; in particular, different national preferences for social equality shape the support. A comparison with survey results from the German Bundestag reveals that German politicians on the national level do not show different preferences towards tax rate harmonization.

Suggested Citation

  • Osterloh, Steffen & Heinemann, Friedrich, 2008. "The Political Economy of Corporate Tax Harmonization: Why Do European Politicians (Dis)like Minimum Tax Rates?," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-108, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7498
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    Cited by:

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    3. Blesse, Sebastian & Boyer, Pierre C. & Heinemann, Friedrich & Janeba, Eckhard, 2016. "Searching for a Franco-German consensus on the future of Europe: Survey results for Bundestag, Assemblée Nationale and Sénat," ZEW policy briefs 5/2016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Keuschnigg, Christian & Loretz, Simon & Winner, Hannes, 2014. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union: A Survey," Economics Working Paper Series 1427, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    5. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    6. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2014. "Behavioral public choice: A survey," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 14/03, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    7. Elisabeth Bustos Contell & Salvador Climent-Serrano & Gregorio Labatut-Serer, 2018. "The evolution of the tax burden for EU companies," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 12(4), December.
    8. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2009. "Partisan politics in corporate tax competition," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-078, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Alena Andrejovska & Veronika Pulikova, 2018. "Tax Revenues in the Context of Economic Determinants," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 14(1), pages 133-141.
    10. Streif, Frank, 2015. "Tax competition in Europe: Europe in competition with other world regions?," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-082, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2012. "Partisan politics in corporate taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 192-207.
    12. Hrvoje Simovic & Helena Blazic & Ana Stambuk, 2014. "Perspectives of tax reforms in Croatia: expert opinion survey," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 38(4), pages 405-439.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    company taxation; tax harmonization; political economy; European Parliament;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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