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Optimal International Taxation and Growth Rate Convergence: Tax Competition vs. Coordination

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  • Assaf Razin
  • Chi-Wa Yuen

Abstract

Optimal international taxation and its implications for convergence in long run income growth rates are analyzed in the context of an endogenously growing world economy with perfect capital mobility. Under tax competition (i) the residence principle will maximize national welfare; (ii) the optimal long run tax rate on capital incomes from various sources will be zero in all countries; and (iii) long term per capita income growth rates will be equalized across countries. Under tax coordination, (i) becomes irrelevant while (ii) and (iii) will continue to hold. In other words, optimal tax policies are growth-equalizing with and without international policy coordination. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999

Suggested Citation

  • Assaf Razin & Chi-Wa Yuen, 1999. "Optimal International Taxation and Growth Rate Convergence: Tax Competition vs. Coordination," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(1), pages 61-78, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:6:y:1999:i:1:p:61-78
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1008647804031
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    2. Gonzalo Fernández-de-Córdoba & José L. Torres, 2007. "Fiscal harmonization in the presence of public inputs," Working Papers 07-02, Asociación Española de Economía y Finanzas Internacionales.
    3. Batina, Raymond G., 2009. "Local capital tax competition and coordinated tax reform in an overlapping generations economy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 472-478, July.
    4. Kollintzas, T. & Philippopoulos, A. & Vasillatos, V., 1999. "Is Tax Policy Coordination Necessary?," DEOS Working Papers 0099-08, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    5. Michael Rauscher, 2005. "Economic Growth and Tax-Competing Leviathans," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 12(4), pages 457-474, August.
    6. Stilianos Alexiadis & Konstantinos Eleftheriou & Peter Nijkamp, 2021. "Club convergence of per capita disposable income in the United States," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 1565-1580, October.
    7. Fernández-de-Córdoba, Gonzalo & Torres, José L., 2012. "Fiscal harmonization in the European Union with public inputs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 2024-2034.
    8. Daniel Becker & Michael Rauscher, 2007. "Fiscal Competition in Space and Time: An Endogenous-Growth Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 2048, CESifo.
    9. Christiane Schuppert & Nadja Wirz, 2008. "Public Education and Growth in Developing Countries," EPRU Working Paper Series 08-04, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    10. Chu, Angus C. & Yang, C.C., 2012. "Fiscal centralization versus decentralization: Growth and welfare effects of spillovers, Leviathan taxation, and capital mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 177-188.
    11. Geremia Palomba, 2008. "Capital income taxation and economic growth in open economies," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(6), pages 668-692, December.
    12. Michael Rauscher, 2004. "Economic Growth and Tax-Competing Leviathans," CESifo Working Paper Series 1140, CESifo.

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