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The Marginal Cost of Public Funds and the Laffer Curve: Evidence from the Canadian Provinces

Author

Listed:
  • Bev Dahlby
  • Ergete Ferede

Abstract

We estimate tax base elasticities for Canadian provinces to compute the Marginal Cost of Public Funds (MCF) for the three major taxes and assess the revenue implications of tax rate changes. We find that generally the corporate income tax has the highest and the sales tax has the lowest MCF. We also find that four provinces were on the negatively sloped sections of their total revenue Laffer curves with respect to their corporate income tax rate in 2013. The policy implication of this is that there would have been significant welfare gains from reductions in provincial corporate income tax rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2018. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds and the Laffer Curve: Evidence from the Canadian Provinces," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 74(2), pages 173-199, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(201806)72:2_173:tmcopf_2.0.tx_2-y
    DOI: 10.1628/fa-2018-0005
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2019. "Simulating The Growth Effects Of The Corporate Income Tax Rate Cuts In Alberta," SPP Communique, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 12(30), September.
    2. Schaufele, Brandon, 2019. "Demand Shocks Change the Excess Burden From Carbon Taxes," MPRA Paper 92132, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Runkel, Marco & Kellner, Maximilian, 2018. "Climate Policy and Optimal Public Debt," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181639, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Brandon Schaufele, 2022. "Curvature and competitiveness: Carbon taxes in cattle markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1268-1292, August.
    5. Bev Dahlby & Braeden Larson, 2019. "Should Alberta Adopt a Land Transfer Tax?," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 12(5), February.
    6. Jack Mintz, 2022. "A Proposal for a "Big Bang" Corporate Tax Reform," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 15(7), February.
    7. Kevin Dayaratna & Ross McKitrick, 2023. "Reply to comment on “climate sensitivity, agricultural productivity and the social cost of carbon in fund” by Philip Meyer," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(2), pages 291-298, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax base elasticity; marginal cost of public funds; Laffer curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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