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Taxes and business philanthropy in Armenia

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  • 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
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    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

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