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Taxes, Organizational Form, and the Deadweight Loss of the Corporate Income Tax

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  • Austan Goolsbee

Abstract

By changing the relative gain to incorporation, corporate taxation can play an important role in a firm's choice of organizational form. General equilibrium models have shown that substantial shifting of organizational form in response to tax rates implies a large deadweight loss of taxation. This paper estimates the impact of taxes on organizational form using data from 1900-1939. The results indicate that the effect of taxes is significant but small. A corporate rate increase of .10 raises the non-corporate share of capital .002-.03. The implied deadweight loss of the corporate income tax is around 5-10% of revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Austan Goolsbee, 1997. "Taxes, Organizational Form, and the Deadweight Loss of the Corporate Income Tax," NBER Working Papers 6173, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6173
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

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