IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/21022.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Taxes and business philanthropy in Armenia

Author

Listed:
  • Asatryan, Zareh
  • Joulfaian, David

Abstract

The majority of countries around the world provide tax incentives for business philanthropy. However, little is known about the responsiveness of businesses to this tax treatment. This paper expands on this scant literature by focusing on the Armenian tax system which provides incentives for business philanthropy. The support takes the form of a deduction capped at a fraction of business receipts. This generates a kink beyond which the marginal tax subsidy drops to zero. Using administrative panel data for the years 2007 through 2017, we find strong evidence of bunching by Armenian firms at the kink, with a sizeable tax elasticity of giving at the intensive margin. The evidence on bunching is robust to whether firms have been audited, and to whether any tax deficiencies are observed. This suggests that the observed response is likely to be real rather than being driven by reporting responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Asatryan, Zareh & Joulfaian, David, 2021. "Taxes and business philanthropy in Armenia," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-022, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/231412/1/1750560046.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tazhitdinova, Alisa, 2018. "Reducing evasion through self-reporting: Evidence from charitable contributions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 31-47.
    2. Philipp Doerrenberg & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2017. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income in the Presence of Deduction Possibilities," NBER Chapters, in: Personal Income Taxation and Household Behavior (TAPES), National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ross Hickey & Bradley Minaker & A. Abigail Payne, 2019. "The Sensitivity of Charitable Giving to the Timing and Salience of Tax Credits," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 72(1), pages 79-110, March.
    4. Arthur Seibold, 2019. "Reference Points for Retirement Behavior: Evidence from German Pension Discontinuities," CESifo Working Paper Series 7799, CESifo.
    5. Gabrielle Fack & Camille Landais, 2016. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax elasticities: Evidence from charitable contributions in France," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01300122, HAL.
    6. Pinar Yildirim & Andrei Simonov & Maria Petrova & Ricardo Perez-Truglia, 2020. "Are Political and Charitable Giving Substitutes? Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 26616, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Boatsman, James R. & Gupta, Sanjay, 1996. "Taxes and Corporate Charity: Empirical Evidence from Micro-Level Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(2), pages 193-213, June.
    8. Asatryan, Zareh & Peichl, Andreas, 2016. "Responses of firms to tax, administrative and accounting rules: Evidence from Armenia," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-065, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Dean Karlan & John A. List, 2007. "Does Price Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1774-1793, December.
    10. Asatryan, Zareh & Gomtsyan, David, 2020. "The incidence of VAT evasion," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Saez, Emmanuel, 2004. "The optimal treatment of tax expenditures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2657-2684, December.
    12. Marianne Bertrand & Matilde Bombardini & Raymond Fisman & Francesco Trebbi, 2020. "Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(7), pages 2065-2102, July.
    13. Joulfaian, David & Rider, Mark, 2004. "Errors–in–Variables and Estimated Income and Price Elasticities of Charitable Giving," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 57(1), pages 25-43, March.
    14. Almunia, Miguel & Guceri, Irem & Lockwood, Ben & Scharf, Kimberley, 2020. "More giving or more givers? The effects of tax incentives on charitable donations in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    15. Karlan, Dean & List, John A. & Shafir, Eldar, 2011. "Small matches and charitable giving: Evidence from a natural field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(5), pages 344-350.
    16. Emmanuel Saez, 2010. "Do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 180-212, August.
    17. Per Engström & Katarina Nordblom & Henry Ohlsson & Annika Persson, 2015. "Tax Compliance and Loss Aversion," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 132-164, November.
    18. Gabrielle Fack & Camille Landais, 2016. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax elasticities: Evidence from charitable contributions in France," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01300122, HAL.
    19. Gabrielle Fack & Camille Landais, 2010. "Are Tax Incentives for Charitable Giving Efficient? Evidence from France," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 117-141, May.
    20. Martin Feldstein, 1999. "Tax Avoidance And The Deadweight Loss Of The Income Tax," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(4), pages 674-680, November.
    21. Emmanuel Saez & Joel Slemrod & Seth H. Giertz, 2012. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 3-50, March.
    22. Raj Chetty, 2009. "Is the Taxable Income Elasticity Sufficient to Calculate Deadweight Loss? The Implications of Evasion and Avoidance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 31-52, August.
    23. Kimberley Scharf & Sarah Smith, 2015. "The price elasticity of charitable giving: does the form of tax relief matter?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 330-352, April.
    24. Feldstein, Martin S & Taylor, Amy, 1976. "The Income Tax and Charitable Contributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(6), pages 1201-1222, November.
    25. R. A. Schwartz, 1968. "Corporate Philanthropic Contributions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(3), pages 479-497, June.
    26. Gerald E. Auten & Holger Sieg & Charles T. Clotfelter, 2002. "Charitable Giving, Income, and Taxes: An Analysis of Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 371-382, March.
    27. Michael P. Devereux & Li Liu & Simon Loretz, 2014. "The Elasticity of Corporate Taxable Income: New Evidence from UK Tax Records," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 19-53, May.
    28. Clotfelter, Charles T., 1985. "Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226110486, March.
    29. Arthur Seibold, 2021. "Reference Points for Retirement Behavior: Evidence from German Pension Discontinuities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(4), pages 1126-1165, April.
    30. Benjamin Bittschi & Sarah Borgloh & Berthold U. Wigger, 2020. "Philanthropy in a Secular Society," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 176(4), pages 640-664.
    31. Navarro, Peter, 1988. "Why Do Corporations Give to Charity?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 65-93, January.
    32. Gruber, Jon & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "The elasticity of taxable income: evidence and implications," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-32, April.
    33. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Tore Olsen & Luigi Pistaferri, 2011. "Adjustment Costs, Firm Responses, and Micro vs. Macro Labor Supply Elasticities: Evidence from Danish Tax Records," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 126(2), pages 749-804.
    34. Robert Carroll & David Joulfaian, 2005. "Taxes and Corporate Giving to Charity," Public Finance Review, , vol. 33(3), pages 300-317, May.
    35. Judd B. Kessler, 2017. "Announcements of Support and Public Good Provision," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3760-3787, December.
    36. Daniel M. Hungerman & Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2021. "Impure Impact Giving: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1553-1614.
    37. Slemrod, Joel, 1989. "Are Estimated Tax Elasticities Really Just Tax Evasion Elasticities? The Case of Charitable Contributions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(3), pages 517-522, August.
    38. Fack, Gabrielle & Landais, Camille, 2016. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax elasticities: Evidence from charitable contributions in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 23-40.
    39. John A. List, 2011. "The Market for Charitable Giving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 157-180, Spring.
    40. Alex Rees-Jones, 2018. "Quantifying Loss-Averse Tax Manipulation," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 85(2), pages 1251-1278.
    41. Charles T. Clotfelter, 1985. "Corporate Contributions," NBER Chapters, in: Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving, pages 171-221, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Randolph, William C, 1995. "Dynamic Income, Progressive Taxes, and the Timing of Charitable Contributions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 709-738, August.
    43. Almunia, Miguel & Guceri, Irem & Lockwood, Ben & Scharf, Kimberley, 2020. "More giving or more givers? The effects of tax incentives on charitable donations in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    44. Henrik J. Kleven & Mazhar Waseem, 2013. "Using Notches to Uncover Optimization Frictions and Structural Elasticities: Theory and Evidence from Pakistan," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 128(2), pages 669-723.
    45. Christian Gillitzer & Peer Ebbesen Skov, 2018. "The use of third-party information reporting for tax deductions: evidence and implications from charitable deductions in Denmark," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 892-916.
    46. Scharf, Kimberley Ann, 2000. "Why are tax expenditures for giving embodied in fiscal constitutions?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 365-387, March.
    47. Bakija, Jon & Heim, Bradley T., 2011. "How Does Charitable Giving Respond to Incentives and Income? New Estimates From Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(2), pages 615-650, June.
    48. Card, David & Hallock, Kevin F. & Moretti, Enrico, 2010. "The geography of giving: The effect of corporate headquarters on local charities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3-4), pages 222-234, April.
    49. Feldstein, Martin & Clotfelter, Charles, 1976. "Tax incentives and charitable contributions in the United States : A microeconometric analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1-2), pages 1-26.
    50. Boatsman, James R. & Gupta, Sanjay, 1996. "Taxes and Corporate Charity: Empirical Evidence from Micro Level Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(2), pages 193, June.
    51. Boatsman, James R. & Gupta, Sanjay, 1996. "Taxes and Corporate Charity: Empirical Evidence From Micro Level Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(2), pages 193-193, June.
    52. Gabrielle Fack & Camille Landais, 2016. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax elasticities: Evidence from charitable contributions in France," Post-Print hal-01300122, HAL.
    53. Baruch Lev & Christine Petrovits & Suresh Radhakrishnan, 2010. "Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 182-200, February.
    54. Charles T. Clotfelter, 1985. "Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number clot85-1, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marius A. K. Ring & Thor Olav Thoresen, 2022. "Wealth Taxation and Charitable Giving," CESifo Working Paper Series 9700, CESifo.
    2. Peter G. Backus & Nicky L. Grant, 2019. "How sensitive is the average taxpayer to changes in the tax-price of giving?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 317-356, April.
    3. Clifford, Sarah & Mavrokonstantis, Panos, 2021. "Tax enforcement using a hybrid between self- and third-party reporting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Sarah Clifford & Panos Mavrokonstantis, 2019. "Tax Enforcement Using A Hybrid Between Self- And Third-Party Reporting," Economics Series Working Papers 876, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. Almunia, Miguel & Guceri, Irem & Lockwood, Ben & Scharf, Kimberley, 2020. "More giving or more givers? The effects of tax incentives on charitable donations in the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. Simeon Schächtele, 2020. "Tax Responses at Low Taxable Incomes: Evidence from Germany," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 411-439, June.
    7. Fack, Gabrielle & Landais, Camille, 2016. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax elasticities: Evidence from charitable contributions in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 23-40.
    8. Carina Neisser, 2017. "The elasticity of taxable income: A meta-regression analysis," Working Papers 2017/10, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    9. He, Daixin & Peng, Langchuan & Wang, Xiaxin, 2021. "Understanding the elasticity of taxable income: A tale of two approaches," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Dajung Jun, 2019. "The Effects of the Dependent Health Insurance Coverage Mandates on Fathers’ Job Mobility and Compensation," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2019n09, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    11. Ross Hickey & Brad Minaker & A. Abigail Payne & Joanne Roberts & Justin Smith, 2019. "The Effect of Tax Price on Donations: Evidence from Canada," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2019n08, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    12. Duquette, Nicolas J., 2016. "Do tax incentives affect charitable contributions? Evidence from public charities' reported revenues," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 51-69.
    13. Philippe Aghion & Ufuk Akcigit & Matthieu Lequien & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2017. "Tax Simplicity and Heterogeneous Learning," NBER Working Papers 24049, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Kristoffer Berg & Thor O. Thoresen, 2020. "Problematic response margins in the estimation of the elasticity of taxable income," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 721-752, June.
    15. Katrine Marie Jakobsen & Jakob Egholt Søgaard, 2022. "Identifying behavioral responses to tax reforms: new insights and a new approach," Economics Series Working Papers 978, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Daniel M. Hungerman & Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2021. "Impure Impact Giving: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1553-1614.
    17. Emmanuel Saez & Joel Slemrod & Seth H. Giertz, 2012. "The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 3-50, March.
    18. Bassi, Vittorio & Huck, Steffen & Rasul, Imran, 2017. "A note on charitable giving by corporates and aristocrats: Evidence from a field experiment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 104-111.
    19. Ross Hickey & Brad Minaker & A. Abigail Payne & Joanne Roberts & Justin Smith, 2023. "The effect of tax price on donations: evidence from Canada," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2023n02, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    20. Arthur Gautier & Anne-Claire Pache, 2015. "Research on Corporate Philanthropy: A Review and Assessment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 343-369, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business philanthropy; charitable giving; corporate income taxes; firm behavior; bunching; tax-price elasticity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21022. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zemande.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zemande.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.