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Do Corporate Tax Cuts Increase Income Inequality?

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  • Suresh Nallareddy
  • Ethan Rouen
  • Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato

Abstract

We study the effects of corporate taxes on income inequality. Using state corporate taxes as a setting, we provide evidence that corporate tax cuts lead to increases in income inequality. This result is robust across regression, matching, and synthetic controls approaches, and to controlling for a host of potential confounders. We use Statistics of Income data from the IRS to explore mechanisms behind this result. We find tax cuts lead to higher income for both top and bottom earners, but the gains to capital income for top earners exceed the gains to total income for bottom earners. This result suggests that, while all earners appear to benefit from a corporate tax cut, the relation between tax cuts and inequality is positive, in part, because high income individuals shift their compensation to reduce taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Suresh Nallareddy & Ethan Rouen & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, 2018. "Do Corporate Tax Cuts Increase Income Inequality?," NBER Working Papers 24598, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24598
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    3. Uliczka, Niklas, 2023. "When the Celtic Tiger relaxed its corporate tax bite: An analysis of effects on top and upper middle income shares in Ireland," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    4. Leonard F. S. Wang & Ji Sun, 2023. "Corporate profit tax, firm entry with unemployment, and income inequality," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 380-392, April.
    5. Tetsugen HARUYAMA, 2021. "A Schumpeterian Exploration of Gini and Top/Bottom Income Shares," Discussion Papers 2125, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    6. He, Fan & Zeng, Xin & Xue, Jingwen & Xu, Jianbin, 2024. "The hidden cost of corporate tax cuts: Evidence from worker health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Hernán Rincón-Castro & Juan Pablo Ángel-Mojica, 2023. "¿Sobre quién recaería la carga de reducir el impuesto sobre la renta de las empresas?," Borradores de Economia 1260, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    8. Siraj G. Bawa & James M. Williamson, 2020. "Distributional Impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Using Farm Household Microdata," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 835-855, December.
    9. Urooj Khan & Suresh Nallareddy & Ethan Rouen, 2020. "The Role of Taxes in the Disconnect Between Corporate Performance and Economic Growth," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5427-5447, November.
    10. Delis, Manthos & Galariotis, Emilios & Iosifidi, Maria, 2023. "Corporate Taxes and Economic Inequality: A Credit Channel," MPRA Paper 116396, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Julie L. Hotchkiss & Robert E. Moore & Fernando Rios-Avila, 2021. "Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Labor Supply and Welfare of Married Households," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2021-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    12. Schochet, Sholom & Benlemlih, Mohammed & Jaballah, Jamil, 2022. "Is corporate tax avoidance related to employee treatment?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 63-80.
    13. R. Alison Felix & James R. Hines, 2022. "Corporate taxes and union wages in the United States," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1450-1494, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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