IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_1883.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate Tax Policy, Entrepreneurship and Incorporation in the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Ruud A. De Mooij
  • Gaëtan J.A. Nicodème
  • Gaëtan J.A. Nicodeme

Abstract

In Europe, declining corporate tax rates have come along with rising tax-to-GDP ratios. This paper explores to what extent income shifting from the personal to the corporate tax base can explain these diverging developments. We exploit a panel of European data on firm births and legal form of business to analyze income shifting via increased entrepreneurship and incorporation. The results suggest that lower corporate taxes exert an ambiguous effect on entrepreneurship. The effect on incorporation is significant and large. It implies that the revenue effects of lower corporate tax rates – possibly induced by tax competition -- partly show up in lower personal tax revenues rather than lower corporate tax revenues. Simulations suggest that between 10% and 17% of corporate tax revenue can be attributed to income shifting. Income shifting is found to have raised the corporate tax-to-GDP ratio by some 0.2%-points since the early 1990s.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruud A. De Mooij & Gaëtan J.A. Nicodème & Gaëtan J.A. Nicodeme, 2006. "Corporate Tax Policy, Entrepreneurship and Incorporation in the EU," CESifo Working Paper Series 1883, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1883
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp1883.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huizinga, Harry & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2006. "Foreign ownership and corporate income taxation: An empirical evaluation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 1223-1244, July.
    2. Gordon, Roger H. & MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K., 1994. "Tax distortions to the choice of organizational form," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 279-306, October.
    3. Simon C. Parker & Martin T. Robson, 2004. "Explaining International Variations in Self-Employment: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(2), pages 287-301, October.
    4. Bruce, Donald, 2000. "Effects of the United States tax system on transitions into self-employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 545-574, September.
    5. Alan J. Auerbach, 2007. "Why Have Corporate Tax Revenues Declined? Another Look," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 53(2), pages 153-171, June.
    6. Fossen, Frank M. & Steiner, Viktor, 2006. "Income Taxes and Entrepreneurial Choice: Empirical Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2164, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Annette Alstadsæter, 2003. "The Dual Income Tax and Firms' Income Shifting through the Choice of Organizational Form and Real Capital Investments," CESifo Working Paper Series 1018, CESifo.
    8. Parker, Simon C, 1996. "A Time Series Model of Self-Employment under Uncertainty," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(251), pages 459-475, August.
    9. Blau, David M, 1987. "A Time-Series Analysis of Self-employment in the United State," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(3), pages 445-467, June.
    10. Luigi Guiso & Luigi Pistaferri & Fabiano Schivardi, 2005. "Insurance within the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 1054-1087, October.
    11. Donald Bruce & Mohammed Mohsin, 2006. "Tax Policy and Entrepreneurship: New Time Series Evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 409-425, June.
    12. Mackie-Mason, Jeffrey K & Gordon, Roger H, 1997. "How Much Do Taxes Discourage Incorporation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 477-505, June.
    13. Hansson, Åsa, 2005. "The Wealth Tax and Entrepreneurial Activity," Working Papers 2005:43, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    14. European Commission, 1998. "Structures of the taxation systems in the European Union 1970-1996," Taxation trends 1998, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    15. Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2006. "Corporate Tax Competition and Coordination in the European Union: What do we know? Where do we stand?," MPRA Paper 107, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Michael Devereux & Rachel Griffith & Alexander Klemm, 2004. "Why has the UK corporation tax raised so much revenue?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 367-388, December.
    17. Poterba, James M., 1989. "Capital Gains Tax Policy Toward Entrepreneurship," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 42(3), pages 375-89, September.
    18. Gaëtan Nicodème, 2001. "Computing effective corporate tax rates: comparisons and results," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 153, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    19. Rachel Griffith & Alexander Klemm, 2004. "What has been the tax competition experience of the past 20 years?," IFS Working Papers W04/05, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    20. Alan J. Auerbach & James M. Poterba, 1987. "Why Have Corporate Tax Revenues Declined?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 1, pages 1-28, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Robert Carroll & Douglas Holtz-Eakin & Mark Rider & Harvey S. Rosen, 2001. "Personal Income Taxes and the Growth of Small Firms," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 15, pages 121-148, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Schuetze, Herb J., 2000. "Taxes, economic conditions and recent trends in male self-employment: a Canada-US comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 507-544, September.
    23. Goolsbee, Austan, 2004. "The impact of the corporate income tax: evidence from state organizational form data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 2283-2299, September.
    24. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2005. "(Why) Do we need Corporate Taxation?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1495, CESifo.
    25. Roger H. Gordon & Joel Slemrod, 1998. "Are "Real" Responses to Taxes Simply Income Shifting Between Corporate and Personal Tax Bases?," NBER Working Papers 6576, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Roger H. Gordon & Julie Berry Cullen, 2002. "Taxes and Entrepreneurial Activity: Theory and Evidence for the U.S," NBER Working Papers 9015, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Yannis Georgellis & Howard J. Wall, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the policy environment," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(Mar), pages 95-112.
    28. Bruce, Donald, 2002. "Taxes and Entrepreneurial Endurance: Evidence from the Self-Employed," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 55(N. 1), pages 5-24, March.
    29. Goolsbee, Austan, 1998. "Taxes, organizational form, and the deadweight loss of the corporate income tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 143-152, July.
    30. William M. Gentry & R. Glenn Hubbard, 2005. ""Success Taxes," Entrepreneurial Entry, and Innovation," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 87-108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. R. Glenn Hubbard & William M. Gentry, 2000. "Tax Policy and Entrepreneurial Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 283-287, May.
    32. Poterba, James M., 1989. "Capital Gains Tax Policy Toward Entrepreneurship," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 42(3), pages 375-389, September.
    33. Cowling, Marc & Mitchell, Peter, 1997. "The Evolution of U.K. Self-Employment: A Study of Government Policy and the Role of the Macroeconomy," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 65(4), pages 427-442, September.
    34. 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.
    35. Clemens Fuest & Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2002. "Tax Competition and Profit Shifting: On the Relationship between Personal and Corporate Tax Rates," CESifo Working Paper Series 781, CESifo.
    36. Martin T. Robson & Colin Wren, 1999. "Marginal and Average Tax Rates and the Incentive for Self-Employment," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(4), pages 757-773, April.
    37. Ruud Mooij, 2005. "Will Corporate Income Taxation Survive?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 277-301, September.
    38. Bruce, Donald, 2002. "Taxes and Entrepreneurial Endurance: Evidence From the Self-Employed," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 55(1), pages 5-24, March.
    39. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 2004. "Are dividends disappearing? Dividend concentration and the consolidation of earnings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 425-456, June.
    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. Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Martínez-Vázquez, Jorge & Vulovic, Violeta, 2013. "Taxation and Economic Growth in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4583, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Clemens Fuest & Felix Hugger & Susanne Wildgruber, 2022. "Why Is Corporate Tax Revenue Stable While Tax Rates Fall? Evidence from Firm-Level Data," National Tax Journal, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 481-515.
    3. Taro Ohno & Masaki Hotei & Eiichiro Sato & Chie Umezaki, 2015. "Decomposition of the Variation of Corporate Tax Revenues : Based on Consideration of Corporate Tax Paradox-," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 11(2), pages 333-360, March.
    4. Fabien Candau & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2017. "Corporate Income Tax as a Genuine own Resource," Working papers of CATT hal-01847937, HAL.
    5. Edmark, Karin & Gordon, Roger, 2012. "Taxes and the Choice of Organizational Form by Entrepreneurs in Sweden," Working Paper Series 907, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    6. Fabien Candau & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2017. "Corporate Income Tax as a Genuine Own Resource," Post-Print hal-02633862, HAL.
    7. Tomasz Skica & Tomasz Wo³owiec & Pavel Pavlov, 2014. "Eeconomic Relations Between Personal And Corporate Income Tax," "e-Finanse", University of Information Technology and Management, Institute of Financial Research and Analysis, vol. 10(1), pages 60-68, June.
    8. Cassette, Aurélie & Paty, Sonia, 2008. "Tax competition among Eastern and Western European countries: With whom do countries compete?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 307-325, December.
    9. Carone, Giuseppe & Nicodème, Gaëtan & Schmidt, Jan, 2007. "Tax revenues in the European Union: Recent trends and challenges ahead," MPRA Paper 3996, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Peter Egger & Christian Keuschnigg & Hannes Winner, 2008. "Incorporation and Taxation: Theory and Firm-level Evidence," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-20, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    11. Mario Mansour, 2015. "Tax Policy in MENA Countries: Looking Back and Forward," IMF Working Papers 2015/098, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Margaret K. McKeehan & George R. Zodrow, 2019. "Balancing Act: Weighing the Factors Affecting the Taxation of Capital Income in a Small Open Economy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: George R Zodrow (ed.), TAXATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE Selected Essays of George R. Zodrow, chapter 12, pages 347-396, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Hans Bacher & Marius Brülhart, 2013. "Progressive taxes and firm births," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(1), pages 129-168, February.
    14. European Commission, 2011. "Tax Reforms in EU Member States 2011: tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability," Taxation Papers 28, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    15. Marcin Piatkowski & Mariusz Jarmuzek, 2008. "Zero Corporate Income Tax in Moldova: Tax Competition and Its Implications for Eastern Europe," IMF Working Papers 2008/203, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Ladislav Mejzlík & Markéta Arltová & David Procházka & Leoš Vítek, 2015. "Implementace mezinárodních standardů účetního výkaznictví v České republice a její vliv na zdanění podniků [The Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in the Czech Republic and Its," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(7), pages 811-832.
    17. Doris Prammer, 2011. "Quality of taxation and the crisis: Tax shifts from a growth perspective," Taxation Papers 29, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    18. International Monetary Fund, 2008. "France: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2008/074, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Ergete Ferede, 2013. "Tax progressivity and self-employment: evidence from Canadian provinces," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 141-153, January.
    20. Simone Bertoli & Francesco Farina, 2007. "The functional distribution of income: a review of the theoretical literature and of the empirical evidence around its recent pattern in European countries," Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID) University of Siena 005, Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID), University of Siena.
    21. Slavomira Tahlova & Anna Banociova, 2019. "Assessment of Corporate Income Tax Revenues in the Light of Their Current Determinants," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 15(1), pages 87-97.
    22. Bofinger, Peter & Schnabel, Isabel & Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Wieland, Volker, 2014. "Mehr Vertrauen in Marktprozesse. Jahresgutachten 2014/15 [More confidence in market processes. Annual Report 2014/15]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201415.

    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. 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.
    2. Mikael Stenkula, 2012. "Taxation and entrepreneurship in a welfare state," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 77-97, July.
    3. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz & Pierre Garello, 2014. "Tax structure and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 165-190, January.
    4. Maksim Belitski & Farzana Chowdhury & Sameeksha Desai, 2016. "Taxes, corruption, and entry," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 201-216, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Donald Bruce & John Deskins, 2012. "Can state tax policies be used to promote entrepreneurial activity?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 375-397, May.
    7. Hansson, Åsa, 2005. "The Wealth Tax and Entrepreneurial Activity," Working Papers 2005:43, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    8. Orkhan Nadirov & Bruce Dehning, 2020. "Tax Progressivity and Entrepreneurial Dynamics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Yannis Georgellis & Howard J. Wall, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the policy environment," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(Mar), pages 95-112.
    10. Kevin B. Moore, 2004. "The effects of the 1986 and 1993 tax reforms on self-employment," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-05, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. William Gale & Samuel Brown, 2013. "Small Business, Innovation, and Tax Policy: A Review," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(4), pages 871-892, December.
    12. Ana Venâncio & Victor Barros & Clara Raposo, 2022. "Corporate taxes and high-quality entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 353-382, January.
    13. Åsa Hansson, 2012. "Tax policy and entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Sweden," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 495-513, May.
    14. Fossen, Frank M. & Steiner, Viktor, 2006. "Income Taxes and Entrepreneurial Choice: Empirical Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2164, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Hansson, Åsa, 2008. "Income taxes and the probability to become self-employed: The case of Sweden," Ratio Working Papers 122, The Ratio Institute.
    16. Ruud A. De Mooij & Gaëtan J.A. Nicodème, 2008. "How Corporate Tax Competition Reduces Personal Tax Revenue," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 6(1), pages 27-31, 04.
    17. Donald Bruce & Mohammed Mohsin, 2006. "Tax Policy and Entrepreneurship: New Time Series Evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 409-425, June.
    18. Thomas A. Garrett & Howard J. Wall, 2006. "Creating a Policy Environment for Entrepreneurs," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 26(3), pages 525-552, Fall.
    19. Adriana Kugler, 2011. "Is there an Anti-labor Bias of Taxes? A Survey of the Evidence from Latin America and Around the World," Research Department Publications 4746, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    20. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2005. "(Why) Do we need Corporate Taxation?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1495, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate tax; personal tax; entrepreneurship; incorporation; income shifting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

    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:ces:ceswps:_1883. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.