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Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces

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  • Ergete Ferede

Abstract

We examine the effects of personal income tax progressivity—in the sense of rising marginal income tax rate—on self-employment. The impacts of income tax progressivity on self-employment depend on the relative effects of taxing success and the presence of tax evasion opportunities. Empirical estimates using Canadian provincial data for the period 1979–2006 indicate that there is a negative association between income tax progressivity and self-employment. This suggests that the adverse impact of income tax on entrepreneurial risk-taking outweighs the tax evasion opportunities for the self-employed. An important implication of our results is that a reduction in income tax progressivity encourages self-employment. The empirical estimates are robust to the various sensitivity checks. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Ergete Ferede, 2013. "Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 141-153, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:40:y:2013:i:1:p:141-153
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-011-9350-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Jack Mintz & Patrick Smith & V. Balaji Venkatachalam, 2021. "A New Approach to Improving Small-Business Tax Competitiveness," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 14(24), October.
    2. Jean-François Wen & Daniel V. Gordon, 2014. "An Empirical Model of Tax Convexity and Self-Employment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 471-482, July.
    3. Can, Ege & Fossen, Frank M., 2023. "Income Taxation and Hours Worked in Different Types of Entrepreneurship," IZA Discussion Papers 16683, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Ege Can, 2022. "Income taxation, entrepreneurship, and incorporation status of self-employment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(5), pages 1260-1293, October.
    5. Bradley Heim & Ithai Lurie, 2014. "Does health reform affect self-employment? Evidence from Massachusetts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 917-930, December.
    6. Ergete Ferede, 2021. "Entrepreneurship and personal income tax: evidence from Canadian provinces," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1765-1781, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Self-employment; Tax progressivity; Occupational choice; H24; J23; J24; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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