IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/btx/wpaper/0810.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic integration and the relationship between profit and wage taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Haufler

    (University of Munich)

  • Alexander Klemm

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Guttorm Schjelderup

    (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

This paper analyses the development of the ratio of corporate taxes to wage taxes using a simple political economy model with workers and capitalists that own internationally mobile and immobile firms. Among other results, our model predicts that countries reduce their corporate tax rate, relative to the wage tax when preferences for public goods increase, or when a rising share of capital is employed in multinational firms. We further show how a rise in the wage share changes both the relative size of tax bases and the political influence of different income groups. The predicted relationships are tested using panel data for 23 OECD countries for the period 1980 through 2004. The results of the empirical analysis support our main hypotheses.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Haufler & Alexander Klemm & Guttorm Schjelderup, 2008. "Economic integration and the relationship between profit and wage taxes," Working Papers 0810, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    • Handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:0810
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Business_Taxation/Docs/Publications/Working_Papers/Series_08/WP0810.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hotte, Louis & Winer, Stanley L, 2001. "Political Influence, Economic Interests and Endogenous Tax Structure in a Computable Equilibrium Framework: With Application to the United States, 1973 and 1983," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 109(1-2), pages 69-99, October.
    2. Devereux, Michael P & Griffith, Rachel, 2003. "Evaluating Tax Policy for Location Decisions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 107-126, March.
    3. Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Tax competition with interregional differences in factor endowments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 423-451, November.
    4. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, April.
    5. Hibbs, Douglas A., 1977. "Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 1467-1487, December.
    6. Bucovetsky, S., 1991. "Asymmetric tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 167-181, September.
    7. Peter Schwarz, 2007. "Does capital mobility reduce the corporate-labor tax ratio?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 363-380, March.
    8. Axel Dreher & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Heinrich Ursprung, 2008. "The impact of globalization on the composition of government expenditures: Evidence from panel data," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 263-292, March.
    9. Andreas Haufler & Alexander Klemm & Guttorm Schjelderup, 2006. "Globalisation and the Mix of Wage and Profit Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 1678, CESifo.
    10. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 997-1032, October.
    11. Dreher, Axel, 2006. "The influence of globalization on taxes and social policy: An empirical analysis for OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 179-201, March.
    12. Stanley L. Winer & Walter Hettich, 2002. "The Political Economy of Taxation: Positive and Normative Analysis when Collective Choice Matters," Carleton Economic Papers 02-11, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 2004.
    13. Atish R. Ghosh & Holger C. Wolf, 1997. "Geographical and Sectoral Shocks in the U.S. Business Cycle," NBER Working Papers 6180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 1992. "The Politics of 1992: Fiscal Policy and European Integration," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(4), pages 689-701.
    15. Ruud Mooij & Gaëtan Nicodème, 2008. "Corporate tax policy and incorporation in the EU," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(4), pages 478-498, August.
    16. Jimeno, Juan F., 1992. "The relative importance of aggregate and sector-specific shocks at explaining aggregate and sectoral fluctuations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 381-385, August.
    17. Slemrod, Joel, 2004. "Are corporate tax rates, or countries, converging?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1169-1186, June.
    18. Wilson, John Douglas, 1999. "Theories of Tax Competition," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(2), pages 269-304, June.
    19. Bretschger, Lucas & Hettich, Frank, 2002. "Globalisation, capital mobility and tax competition: theory and evidence for OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 695-716, November.
    20. Kind, Hans Jarle & Midelfart, Karen Helene & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2005. "Corporate tax systems, multinational enterprises, and economic integration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 507-521, March.
    21. Michael Devereux & Alexander Klemm, 2003. "Measuring taxes on income from capital: evidence from the UK," IFS Working Papers W03/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    22. Signe Krogstrup, 2004. "Are Corporate Tax Burdens Racing to the Bottom in the European Union?," EPRU Working Paper Series 04-04, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    23. Clemens Fuest & Bernd Huber, 2001. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in a Median Voter Model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 97-113, April.
    24. Davis, Steven J & Henrekson, Magnus, 1999. "Explaining National Differences in the Size and Industry Distribution of Employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 59-83, February.
    25. Hettich, W. & Winer, S.L., 1993. "The Political Economy of Taxation," Papers 8, Carleton - Business Administration.
    26. Apolte, Thomas, 2001. "How Tame Will Leviathan Become in Institutional Competition? Competition among Governments in the Provision of Public Goods," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(3-4), pages 359-381, June.
    27. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2010. "Internationalization and business tax revenue—evidence from Germany," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(2), pages 174-192, April.
    28. Harry Garretsen & Jolanda Peeters, 2007. "Capital Mobility, Agglomeration and Corporate Tax Rates: Is the Race to the Bottom for Real?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 53(2), pages 263-293, June.
    29. Torsten Persson, 1992. "Politics and economic policy," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 62, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    30. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Has Globalization Gone Too Far?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 81-94, March.
    31. Michael P Devereux, 2007. "The Impact of Taxation on the Location of Capital, Firms and Profit: a Survey of Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 0702, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    32. Quinn, Dennis, 1997. "The Correlates of Change in International Financial Regulation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 91(3), pages 531-551, September.
    33. repec:dgr:uvatin:20070030 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Lawrence Kenny & Stanley Winer, 2006. "Tax Systems in the World: An Empirical Investigation into the Importance of Tax Bases, Administration Costs, Scale and Political Regime," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 13(2), pages 181-215, May.
    35. Michael P. Devereux & Rachel Griffith & Alexander Klemm, 2002. "Corporate income tax reforms and international tax competition [‘Do domestic firms benefit from direct foreign investment? Evidence from Venezuela’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 449-495.
    36. Baltagi, Badi H. & Wu, Ping X., 1999. "Unequally Spaced Panel Data Regressions With Ar(1) Disturbances," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(6), pages 814-823, December.
    37. Wilson, John Douglas, 1999. "Theories of Tax Competition," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 2), pages 269-304, June.
    38. Gary S. Becker, 1983. "A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(3), pages 371-400.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Janeba, Eckhard & Osterloh, Steffen, 2012. "Tax and the city: A theory of local tax competition and evidence for Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-005, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. König, Tobias & Wagener, Andreas, 2008. "(Post-)Materialist Attitudes and the Mix of Capital and Labour Taxation," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-404, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    3. Langenmayr, Dominika & Simmler, Martin, 2021. "Firm mobility and jurisdictions’ tax rate choices: Evidence from immobile firm entry," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    4. Gintarė Giriūnienė, 2013. "Public sector‘s subsidies to business – suitability valuation of labor market support measures," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 1(1), pages 37-44, September.
    5. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2009. "Partisan politics in corporate tax competition," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-078, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Gintarė Giriūnienė, 2013. "Public sector‘s subsidies to business – suitability valuation of labor market support measures," Post-Print hal-01694346, HAL.
    7. Genschel, Philipp & Schwarz, Peter, 2012. "Tax competition and fiscal democracy," TranState Working Papers 161, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    8. Koenig, Tobias & Wagener, Andreas, 2013. "Tax structure and government expenditures with tax equity concerns," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 137-153.
    9. B. Merlevede & G. Rayp & S. Van Parys & T. Verbeke, 2011. "Do EU15 countries compete over labour taxes?," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/750, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    10. Simon Loretz, 2008. "Corporate taxation in the OECD in a wider context," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(4), pages 639-660, winter.
    11. Karpowicz Andrzej, 2018. "Corporate Income Tax Rates in the EU Member States: Why Lower Means Better," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 14(3), pages 32-48, September.
    12. Adam, Antonis & Kammas, Pantelis & Lagou, Athina, 2013. "The effect of globalization on capital taxation: What have we learned after 20years of empirical studies?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 199-209.
    13. Friedrich Heinemann & Michael Overesch & Johannes Rincke, 2010. "Rate‐Cutting Tax Reforms And Corporate Tax Competition In Europe," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 498-518, November.
    14. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2012. "Partisan politics in corporate taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 192-207.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haufler, Andreas & Klemm, Alexander & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2006. "Globalisation and the mix of wage and profit taxes," Discussion Papers in Economics 885, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    2. Michael P. Devereux & Simon Loretz, 2013. "What Do We Know About Corporate Tax Competition?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(3), pages 745-774, September.
    3. Peter Schwarz, 2007. "Does capital mobility reduce the corporate-labor tax ratio?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 363-380, March.
    4. Adam, Antonis & Kammas, Pantelis & Lagou, Athina, 2013. "The effect of globalization on capital taxation: What have we learned after 20years of empirical studies?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 199-209.
    5. Hannes Winner, 2005. "Has Tax Competition Emerged in OECD Countries? Evidence from Panel Data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 12(5), pages 667-687, September.
    6. Nelly Exbrayat, 2008. "The Impact of Trade Integration and Agglomeration Economies on Tax Interactions : Evidence from OECD Countries," Post-Print hal-00270067, HAL.
    7. Hans Pitlik, 2005. "Folgt die Steuerpolitik in der EU der Logik des Steuerwettbewerbs," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 256/2005, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    8. König, Tobias & Wagener, Andreas, 2008. "(Post-)Materialist Attitudes and the Mix of Capital and Labour Taxation," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-404, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    9. Haufler, Andreas & Klemm, Alexander & Schejederup, Guttorm, 2006. "Economic integration and redistribuitive taxation," Discussion Papers in Economics 912, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    10. Mauro Ghinamo & Paolo Panteghini & Federico Revelli, 2010. "FDI determination and corporate tax competition in a volatile world," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(5), pages 532-555, October.
    11. Haufler, Andreas & Klemm, Alexander & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2008. "Redistributive taxation, multinational enterprises, and economic integration," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 249-255, March.
    12. Troeger, Vera, 2012. "De Facto Capital Mobility, Equality, and Tax Policy in Open Economies," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 84, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. Pantelis Kammas, 2011. "Strategic fiscal interaction among OECD countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 459-480, June.
    14. Andreas Haufler & Frank Stähler, 2013. "Tax Competition In A Simple Model With Heterogeneous Firms: How Larger Markets Reduce Profit Taxes," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(2), pages 665-692, May.
    15. Åsa Hansson & Susan Porter & Susan Williams, 2015. "The importance of the political process on corporate tax policy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 281-306, September.
    16. Osterloh, Steffen & Debus, Marc, 2009. "Partisan politics in corporate tax competition," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-078, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Ozlem Onaran & Valerie Boesch & Markus Leibrecht, 2012. "How Does Globalization Affect The Implicit Tax Rates On Labor Income, Capital Income, And Consumption In The European Union?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(4), pages 880-904, October.
    18. Hansson, Åsa & Porter, Susan & Perry Williams, Susan, 2012. "The Effect of Political and Economic Factors on Corporate Tax Rates," Working Paper Series 942, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    19. Simon Loretz, 2008. "Corporate taxation in the OECD in a wider context," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(4), pages 639-660, winter.
    20. Özlem Onaran & Valerie Boesch, 2014. "The Effect of Globalization on the Distribution of Taxes and Social Expenditures in Europe: Do Welfare State Regimes Matter?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 373-397, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital and labour taxes; economic integration; multinational firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:0810. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dongxian Guo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sbsoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.