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Reforming an Asymmetric Union: On the Virtues of Dual Tier Capital Taxation

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  • Andreas Haufler
  • Christoph Lülfesmann

Abstract

The tax competition for mobile capital, in particular the reluctance of small countries to agree on measures of tax coordination, has ongoing political and economic fallouts within Europe. We analyse the effects of introducing a two tier structure of capital taxation, where the asymmetric member states of a union choose a common, federal tax rate in the first stage, and then non-cooperatively set local tax rates in the second stage. We show that this mechanism effectively reduces competition for mobile capital between the members of the union. Moreover, it distributes the gains across the heterogeneous states in a way that yields a strict Pareto improvement over a one tier system of purely local tax choices. Finally, we present simulation results, and show that a dual structure of capital taxation has advantages even when side payments are feasible.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Haufler & Christoph Lülfesmann, 2013. "Reforming an Asymmetric Union: On the Virtues of Dual Tier Capital Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 4076, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4076
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    Cited by:

    1. William Hoyt, 2005. "The Assignment and Division of the Tax Base in a System of Hierarchical Governments," Working Papers 2005-07, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    2. Haufler, Andreas & Lülfesmann, Christoph, 2015. "Reforming an asymmetric union: On the virtues of dual tier capital taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 116-127.
    3. Pang, Yu, 2019. "Taxing pollution and profits: A bargaining approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 278-288.
    4. William H. Hoyt, 2017. "The assignment and division of the tax base in a system of hierarchical governments," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(4), pages 678-704, August.
    5. Sanz Córdoba, Patricia & Theilen, Bernd, 1965-, 2017. "Strategic Responses to International Tax Competition: Fiscal (De) Centralization versus Partial Tax Harmonization," Working Papers 2072/306513, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    6. Clemens Fuest & Samina Sultan, 2019. "How Will Brexit Affect Tax Competition and Tax Harmonization? The Role of Discriminatory Taxation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 72(1), pages 111-138, March.
    7. María T. Álvarez-Martínez & Salvador Barrios & Diego d'Andría & Maria Gesualdo & Jonathan Pycroft & Dimitrios Pontikakis, 2016. "Falling Corporate Tax Rates in the EU: Is there a case for harmonisation?," JRC Working Papers on Taxation & Structural Reforms 2016-04, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Atsushi Yamagishi, 2019. "Transboundary pollution, tax competition and the efficiency of uncoordinated environmental regulation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(3), pages 1165-1194, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital tax competition; dual tier taxation; international unions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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