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Business taxation and wages: evidence from individual panel data

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Abstract

Empirical evidence on the degree of business-tax shifting to employees via the wage level is highly controversial and rare. It remains open to which extent the tax burden is shifted, whether there are differences for tax increases and decreases, or whether there exists some treatment heterogeneity, that drive the respective results. Using a large administrative panel data set, we exploit the regional variation of the German business income taxation to address these issues. Our results suggest an elasticity of wages with respect to business taxes that ranges between -0.28 to -0.46, once we control for invariant unobserved regional and individual characteristics. Workers with low bargaining power, e.g., low-skilled, are affected most from business tax shifting, indicating that business-tax incidence involves distributional effects. Finally, we find evidence for an asymmetric tax incidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas K. Bauer & Tanja Kasten & Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2012. "Business taxation and wages: evidence from individual panel data," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 153-12, Universität Siegen, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik und Wirtschaftsrecht.
    • Handle: RePEc:sie:siegen:153-12
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    Cited by:

    1. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2018. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages? Micro Evidence from Germany," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 393-418, February.
    2. Salvador Barrios & Gaetan Nicodeme & Antonio Jesus Sanchez Fuentes, 2014. "Effective Corporate Taxation, Tax Incidence and Tax Reforms: Evidence from OECD Countries," Taxation Papers 45, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    3. Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2014. "A General Microsimulation Model for the EU VAT with a specific Application to Germany," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 7(2), pages 40-93.
    4. Fuest, Clemens & Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages?," IZA Discussion Papers 9606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2012. "Which Workers Bear the Burden of Corporate Taxation and Which Firms Can Pass It On? Micro Evidence from Germany," Working Papers 1216, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    6. aus dem Moore, Nils & Kasten, Tanja & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2014. "Do Wages Rise when Corporate Taxes Fall? - Evidence from Germany's Tax Reform 2000," Ruhr Economic Papers 532, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Chengrui Xiao, 2020. "Intergovernmental revenue relations, tax enforcement and tax shifting: evidence from China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 128-152, February.
    8. Thomas K. Bauer & Tanja Kasten & Lars-H. R. Siemers, 2017. "Business Taxation and Wages: Redistribution and Asymmetric Effects," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201732, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    9. Gebhardt Heinz & Siemers Lars-H. R., 2017. "Die relative Steuerbelastung mittelständischer Kapitalgesellschaften: Evidenz von handelsbilanziellen Mikrodaten," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 66(1), pages 1-35, April.
    10. Peichl, Andreas & Fuest, Clemens & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2013. "Wage Incidence of Local Corporate Taxation - Micro Evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79916, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Elisabeth Bügelmayer & Daniel D. Schnitzlein, 2018. "Is it the family or the neighborhood? Evidence from sibling and neighbor correlations in youth education and health," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(3), pages 369-388, September.
    12. Nils aus dem Moore & Tanja Kasten & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2014. "Do Wages Rise when Corporate Taxes Fall? - Evidence from Germany’s Tax Reform 2000," Ruhr Economic Papers 0532, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    13. aus dem Moore, Nils, 2014. "Shifting the Burden of Corporate Taxes: Heterogeneity in Direct Wage Incidence," Ruhr Economic Papers 531, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    14. Savšek, Simon, 2018. "What are the main obstacles to hiring after recessions in Europe?," Working Paper Series 2153, European Central Bank.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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