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Yardstick Competition among Portuguese Municipalities: The Case of Urban Property Tax (IMI)

Author

Listed:
  • José da Silva Costa

    (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto.)

  • Armindo Cravalho

    (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto.)

Abstract

In this paper we gather empirical evidence on the existence of strategic interaction among Portuguese municipal executives when they set rates of property tax and in particular if we are in the presence of yardstick competition. For that purpose, we adopted the assumption of geographic interaction among Portuguese municipalities when setting rates of property tax. We have estimated, for evaluated and non-evaluated urban property, spatial lag models with two spatial dependency regimes (municipalities with and without a solid majority) and cross-section fixed effects coefficients. The results provide strong empirical evidence on the existence of strategic interaction among Portuguese municipalities when setting rates of municipal taxes and on the yardstick hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • José da Silva Costa & Armindo Cravalho, 2013. "Yardstick Competition among Portuguese Municipalities: The Case of Urban Property Tax (IMI)," FEP Working Papers 495, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    • Handle: RePEc:por:fepwps:495
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ida, Tomoya & Wilhelmsson, Mats, 2014. "An Empirical Test Of The Dominant Tax Externality In Sweden," Working Paper Series 14/5, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management & Banking and Finance.
    2. Małkowska, Agnieszka & Telega, Agnieszka & Głuszak, Michał & Marona, Bartłomiej, 2021. "Spatial diversification of property tax policy – Searching for yardstick competition in Polish metropolitan areas," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Droste, Nils & Becker, Claudia & Ring, Irene & Santos, Rui, 2017. "Decentralization effects in ecological fiscal transfers: The case of Portugal," UFZ Discussion Papers 3/2017, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    4. Hugo Pinto-de-Abreu & Elísio Brandão & Samuel Pereira, 2015. "Across Tax Mountains Assessing the Impact of Competition on the Laffer Curve," International Journal of Financial Economics, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 4(1), pages 57-84.
    5. Hugo Miguel de Oliveira Cruz Pinto de Abreu & Elísio Fernando Moreira Brandão & Samuel Cruz Alves Pereira, 2014. "Crossing Mountains: The Effect of Competition on the Laffer Curve," FEP Working Papers 523, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Yarstick competition; Local Governments; Portugal.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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