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Who benefits from tax incentives? The heterogeneous wage incidence of a tax credit

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  • Clément Carbonnier

    (THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise - Université Paris-Seine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, Centre de recherche de la Banque de France - Banque de France)

  • Clément Malgouyres

    (IPP - Institut des politiques publiques, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Loriane Py

    (Centre de recherche de la Banque de France - Banque de France, IPP - Institut des politiques publiques)

  • Camille Urvoy

    (LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

Abstract

Do workers gain from lower business taxes, and why? We estimate how a large French corporate income tax credit is passed on to wages and explore the firm- and employee-level underlying mechanisms. The amount of tax credit firms get depends on their payroll share of workers paid less than a wage threshold. Exposure to the policy thus varies both across workers depending on their wage and across firms depending on their wage structure. Using exhaustive employer-employee data, we find that half of the surplus generated by the reform falls onto workers. Wage gains load on incumbents in high-skill occupations. The wage earnings of low-skill workers -- nearly all individually eligible -- do not change. This heterogeneous wage incidence is unlikely to be driven by scale effects or skill complementarities. We find that the groups of workers benefiting from wage gains are also more likely to continue working for the same firm. Further, we show that firms do not change their wage-setting behavior in response to the individual eligibility status of workers as there is no bunching in the distribution of entrants' wages. Overall, our results suggest that the wage incidence of firm taxation operates collectively through rent-sharing and benefits workers most costly to replace.

Suggested Citation

  • Clément Carbonnier & Clément Malgouyres & Loriane Py & Camille Urvoy, 2020. "Who benefits from tax incentives? The heterogeneous wage incidence of a tax credit," SciencePo Working papers Main halshs-02495652, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:halshs-02495652
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02495652
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    2. Anikó Bíró & Réka Branyiczki & Attila Lindner & Lili Márk & Dániel Prinz, 2022. "Firm Heterogeneity and the Impact of Payroll Taxes," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2223, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    3. Clément Carbonnier, 2023. "Welfare Economics and Neoliberalism: Interpreting the ideal type of perfect competition general equilibrium," Working Papers hal-04062786, HAL.
    4. Sophie Cottet, 2020. "Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects?," Working Papers halshs-03010943, HAL.
    5. Sacchidananda Mukherjee & Shivani Badola, 2023. "Macroeconomic Implications of Changes in Corporate Tax Rates: A Review," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(1), pages 20-41, March.
    6. Samuel Dodini & Kjell Salvanes & Alexander L.P. Willén & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2021. "The Dynamics of Power in Labor Markets: Monopolistic Unions versus Monopsonistic Employers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9495, CESifo.
    7. Annette Alstadsæter & Julie Brun Bjørkheim & Ronald B. Davies & Johannes Scheuerer, 2022. "Pennies from Haven: Wages and Profit Shifting," CESifo Working Paper Series 9590, CESifo.
    8. Mertens, Matthias & Müller, Steffen & Neuschäffer, Georg, 2022. "Identifying rent-sharing using firms' energy input mix," IWH Discussion Papers 19/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    9. Attila Lindner & Balazs Murakozy & Balazs Reizer & Ragnhild Schreiner, 2022. "Firm-level technological change and skill demand," CEP Discussion Papers dp1857, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Sophie Cottet, 2020. "Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects?," PSE Working Papers halshs-03010943, HAL.
    11. Segundo Camino‐Mogro, 2023. "Tax incentives, private investment and employment: Evidence from an Ecuadorian reform," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 2129-2156, October.
    12. Tang, Meili & Wang, Yu, 2022. "Tax incentives and corporate social responsibility: The role of cash savings from accelerated depreciation policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business taxation; tax incentives; wage incidence; rent sharing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

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