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Fiscal Equalization and Tax Enforcement

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  • Timm Bönke
  • Beate Jochimsen
  • Carsten Schröder

Abstract

In many countries organized as federations, fiscal equalization schemes have been implemented to mitigate vertical or horizontal imbalances. Such schemes usually imply that the member states of the federation can only partly internalize (marginal) tax revenue before redistribution. Aside from the internalized marginal revenue, referred to as the marginal tax-back rate, the remainder is redistributed. We investigate the extent to which state-level authorities in such federation under-exploit their tax bases. By means of a stylized model, we show that the member states have an incentive to align the effective tax rates on their residents with the level of the marginal tax-back rate. We empirically test the model using state-level and micro-level taxpayer data, OLS regressions and natural experiments. Our empirical findings support the results from our theoretical model. Particularly, we find that states with a higher marginal tax-back rate exploit the tax base to a higher extent.
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  • Timm Bönke & Beate Jochimsen & Carsten Schröder, 2017. "Fiscal Equalization and Tax Enforcement," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 18(3), pages 377-409, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:18:y:2017:i:3:p:377-409
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/geer.12110
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    2. Jochimsen Beate, 2018. "Federalism in Germany, Italy, and the European Union: History, Characteristics, and Perspectives," Journal for Markets and Ethics, Sciendo, vol. 6(1), pages 145-154, June.
    3. Burriel, Pablo & Chronis, Panagiotis & Freier, Maximilian & Hauptmeier, Sebastian & Reiss, Lukas & Stegarescu, Dan & Van Parys, Stefan, 2020. "A fiscal capacity for the euro area: lessons from existing fiscal-federal systems," Occasional Paper Series 239, European Central Bank.
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    5. Blesse, Sebastian & Heinemann, Friedrich & Nover, Justus, 2022. "Bundesländerindex Familienunternehmen: Standortfaktoren innerhalb Deutschlands im Vergleich," Studien, Stiftung Familienunternehmen / Foundation for Family Businesses, number 264906, June.

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