Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:19:24.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Role of the Corporate Tax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2019

Roger Gordon
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Sarada
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Summary

Existing corporate taxes distort many aspects of firm behavior. To the extent that the corporate tax rate is lower than personal tax rates, taxes favor corporate activity, and favor retaining earnings rather than paying earnings out to employees and investors. Multinationals can even avoid these taxes by shifting income into tax havens. Given the ease with which multinationals can evade tax, the existing income tax structure faces major pressures, as reflected in average statutory corporate tax rates halving in recent decades. The Element speculates on alternative tax structures that will avoid these problems.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108779982
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 15 August 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, Michael, and Dumas, Bernard. 1983. “International Portfolio Choice and Corporation Finance: A Synthesis,” Journal of Finance 38, 925984.Google Scholar
Akcigit, Ufuk, Baslandze, Salomé, and Stantcheva, Stefanie. 2016. “Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors,” American Economic Review 106, 29302981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akcigit, Ufuk, Hanley, Douglas, and Stantcheva, Stefanie. 2017. “Optimal Taxation and R&D Policies,” NBER Working Paper No. 22908.Google Scholar
Altshuler, Rosanne, and Auerbach, Alan. 1990. “The Significance of Tax Law Asymmetries: An Empirical Investigation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 105, 6186.Google Scholar
Arulampalam, Wiji, Maffini, Giorgia, and Devereux, Michael P.. 2012. “The Direct Incidence of Corporate Income Tax on Wages,” European Economic Review 56, 10381054.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Alan. 1979. “Wealth Maximization and the Cost of Capital,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 93, 433446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auerbach, Alan. 1981. “Inflation and the Tax Treatment of Firm Behavior,” American Economic Review 71, 419423.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Alan, and Devereux, Michael. 2018. “Cash-Flow Taxes in an International Setting,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 10, 6994.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Alan J., Devereux, Michael, and Simpson, Helen. 2010. “Taxing Corporate Income”. In Dimensions of Tax Design: The Mirrlees Review, edited by Adams, Stuart, Besley, Tim, Blundell, Richard, Bond, Stephen, Chote, Robert, Gammie, Malcolm et al. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies, 837904.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Alan, and Hassett, Kevin. 2006. “Dividend Taxes and Firm Valuation: New Evidence,” American Economic Review 96, 119123.Google Scholar
Bernheim, B. Douglas. 1991. “Tax Policy and the Dividend Puzzle,” Rand Journal of Economics 22, 455476.Google Scholar
Bernheim, B. Douglas, and Wantz, Adam. 1995. “A Tax-Based Test of the Dividend Signaling Hypothesis,” American Economic Review 85, 532551.Google Scholar
Best, Michael, Brockmeyer, Anne, Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen, Spinnewijn, Johannes, and Waseem, Mazhar. 2015. “Production vs. Revenue Efficiency with Limited Tax Capacity: Theory and Evidence from Pakistan,” Journal of Political Economy 123, 13111355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Fischer. 1976. “The Dividend Puzzle,” Journal of Portfolio Management 2, 58.Google Scholar
Boadway, Robin, Bruce, Neil, and Mintz, Jack. 1984. “Taxation, Inflation, and the Effective Marginal Tax Rate on Capital in Canada,” Canadian Journal of Economics 17, 6279.Google Scholar
Bradford, David. 1981. “The Incidence and Allocation Effects of a Tax on Corporate Distributions,” Journal of Public Economics 15, 122.Google Scholar
Chetty, Raj. 2009. “Sufficient Statistics for Welfare Analysis: A Bridge Between Structural and Reduced-Form Methods,” Annual Review of Economics 1, 451488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chetty, Raj, and Saez, Emmanuel. 2006. “The Effects of the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut on Corporate Behavior: Interpreting the Evidence,” American Economic Review 96, 124129.Google Scholar
Chetty, Raj, and Saez, Emmanuel. 2010. “Dividend and Corporate Taxation in an Agency Model of the Firm,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2, 131.Google Scholar
Cummins, Jason, Hassett, Kevin, and Hubbard, R. Glenn. 1994. “A Reconsideration of Investment Behavior Using Tax Reforms as Natural Experiments,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2, 159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desai, Mihir, and Dharmapala, Dhammika. 2009. “Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities,” Journal of Public Economics 93, 703714.Google Scholar
Devereux, Michael, Liu, Li, and Loretz, Simon. 2014. “The Elasticity of Corporate Taxable Income: New Evidence from UK Tax Records,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6, 1953.Google Scholar
Dharmapala, Dhammika. 2016. “The Economics of Corporate and Business Tax Reform,” Coase-Sandor Working Paper Series in Law and Economics, No. 757.Google Scholar
Dharmapala, Dhammika, Slemrod, Joel, and Wilson, John. 2011. “Tax Policy and the Missing Middle: Optimal Tax Remittance and Firm-Level Administrative Costs,” Journal of Public Economics 95, 10361047.Google Scholar
Diamond, Peter. 1967. “The Role of the Stock Market in a General Equilibrium Model with Technological Uncertainty,” American Economic Review 57, 759776.Google Scholar
Diamond, Peter, and Mirrlees, James. 1971. “Optimal Taxation and Public Production I: Production Efficiency,” American Economic Review 61, 827.Google Scholar
Domar, Evsey, and Musgrave, Richard. 1944. “Proportional Income Taxation and Risk-Taking,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 58, 388422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erickson, Merle, Hanlon, Michelle, and Maydew, Edward. 2004. “How Much Will Firms Pay for Earnings That Do Not Exist? Evidence of Taxes Paid on Allegedly Fraudulent Earnings,” The Accounting Review 79, 387408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazzari, Steven, Hubbard, R. Glenn, and Petersen, Bruce. 1988. “Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1, 141194.Google Scholar
Feldstein, Martin. 1995. “The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act,” Journal of Political Economy 103, 551572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldstein, Martin, Dicks-Mireaux, Louis, and Poterba, James. 1983. “The Effective Tax Rate and the Pretax Rate of Return,” Journal of Public Economics 21, 129158.Google Scholar
Feldstein, Martin, and Slemrod, Joel. 1980. “Personal Taxation, Portfolio Choice, and the Effect of the Corporate Income Tax,” Journal of Political Economy 88, 854866.Google Scholar
Goolsbee, Austan. 1998. “Taxes, Organizational Form, and the Deadweight Loss of the Corporate Income Tax,” Journal of Public Economics 69, 143152.Google Scholar
Goolsbee, Austan. 2000. “What Happens When You Tax the Rich? Evidence from Executive Compensation,” Journal of Political Economy 108, 352378.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger. 2012. “How Should Income from Multinational be Taxed?”. In The Global Macro Economy and Finance, edited by Allen, F., Aoki, M., Fitoussi, J. P, Kiyotaki, N., Gordon, R., and Stiglitz, J. E. (International Economic Association Series). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 298312.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Bradford, David. 1980. “Taxation and the Stock Market Valuation of Capital Gains and Dividends: Theory and Empirical Results,” Journal of Public Economics 14, 109136.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Dietz, Martin. 2008. “Dividends and Taxes.” In Institutional Foundations of Public Finance: Economic and Legal Perspectives, edited by Auerbach, Alan and Shaviro, Daniel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 204224.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Hines, James, Jr. 2002. “International Taxation.” In Handbook of Public Economics, Vol. 4, edited by Auerbach, Alan and Feldstein, Martin. Amsterdam: North Holland, 19351995.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Jun, Joosung. 1993. “Taxes and the Form of Ownership of Foreign Corporate Equity.” In Studies in International Taxation, edited by Giovannini, Alberto, Hubbard, R. Glenn, and Slemrod, Joel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1346.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Kopczuk, Wojciech. 2014. “The Choice of Personal Income Tax Base,” Journal of Public Economics 118, 97110.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Lee, Young. 2007. “Interest Rates, Taxes and Corporate Financial Policies,” National Tax Journal 60, 6584.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Wei, Li. 2009. “Tax Structures in Developing Countries: Many Puzzles and a Possible Explanation,” Journal of Public Economics 93, 855866.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Jeffrey, MacKie-Mason. 1994. “Why is there Corporate Taxation in a Small Open Economy: The Role of Transfer Pricing and Income Shifting.” In The Effects of Taxation on Multinational Corporations, edited by Feldstein, Martin, Hines, James, Jr., and Hubbard, R. Glenn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 6794.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Sarada, . 2018. “How Should Taxes be Designed to Encourage Entrepreneurship?,” Journal of Public Economics 166, 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Slemrod, Joel. 2000. “Are ‘Real’ Responses to Taxes Simply Income Shifting Between Corporate and Personal Tax Bases?”. In Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich, edited by Slemrod, Joel. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 240280.Google Scholar
Gordon, Roger, and Wilson, John. 1986. “An Examination of Multijurisdictional Corporate Income Taxes Under Formula Apportionment,” Econometrica 54, 13571376.Google Scholar
Gorry, Aspen, Hassett, Kevin, Hubbard, Glenn, and Mathur, Aparna. 2017. “The Response of Deferred Executive Compensation to Changes in Tax Rates,” Journal of Public Economics 151, 2840.Google Scholar
Graham, John. 2003 “Taxes and Corporate Finance: A Review,” Review of Financial Studies 16, 10751129.Google Scholar
Grubert, Harry. 2003. “Intangible Income, Intercompany Transactions, Income Shifting, and the Choice of Location,” National Tax Journal 56, 221242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grullon, Gustavo, and Michaely, Roni. 2002. “Dividends, Share Repurchases, and the Substitution Hypothesis,” Journal of Finance 57, 16491684.Google Scholar
Hail, Luzi, Sikes, Stephanie, and Wang, Clare. 2017. “Cross-Country Evidence on the Relation between Capital Gains Taxes, Risk, and Expected Returns,” Journal of Public Economics 151, 5673.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert, and Jorgenson, Dale. 1967. “Tax Policy and Investment Behavior,” American Economic Review 57, 391414.Google Scholar
Harberger, Arnold. 1962. “The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax,” Journal of Political Economy 70, 215240.Google Scholar
Harberger, Arnold. 1982. “The Incidence of Taxes on Income from Capital in an Open Economy: A Review of Current Thinking,” HIID Development Discussion Paper No. 139.Google Scholar
Hassett, Kevin, and Glenn Hubbard, R.. 1997. “Tax Policy and Investment.” In Fiscal Policy: Lessons from Economic Research, edited by Auerbach, Alan. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 339396.Google Scholar
Hines, James R., Jr., and Glenn Hubbard, R.. 1990. “Coming Home to America: Dividend Repatriations by U.S. Multinationals.” In Taxation in the Global Economy, edited by Razin, Assaf and Slemrod, Joel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 161208.Google Scholar
Jensen, Michael, and Meckling, William. 1976. “Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure,” Journal of Financial Economics 3, 305360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorgenson, Dale, and Auerbach, Alan. 1980. “Inflation-Proof Depreciation of Assets,” Harvard Business Review 58, 113118.Google Scholar
Kannianen, Vesa and Jan, Södersten. 1995. “The Importance of Reporting Conventions for the Theory of Corporate Taxation,” Journal of Public Economics 7, 417430.Google Scholar
Keen, Michael. 2001. “Preferential Regimes Can Make Tax Competition Less Harmful,” National Tax Journal 54, 757762.Google Scholar
Keen, Michael, and Wildasin, David. 2004. “Pareto-Efficient International Taxation,” American Economic Review 94, 259275.Google Scholar
King, Mervyn. 1977. Public Policy and the Corporation. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
King, Mervyn, and Fullerton, Don. 1984. The Taxation of Income from Capital: A Comparative Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kleven, Henrik, Kreiner, Claus, and Saez, Emmanuel. 2016. “Why Can Modern Governments Tax So Much? An Agency Model of Firms as Fiscal Intermediaries,” Economica 83, 219246.Google Scholar
MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey, and Gordon, Roger. 1997. “How Much Do Taxes Discourage Incorporation?,” Journal of Finance 52, 477505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathur, Aparna, and Hassett, Kevin. 2006. “Taxes and Wages,” American Enterprise Institute Working Paper No. 138.Google Scholar
Miller, Merton, and Modigliani, Franco. 1963. “Corporate Income Taxes and the Cost of Capital: A Correction,” American Economic Review 53, 433443.Google Scholar
Miller, Merton, and Rock, Kevin. 1985. “Dividend Policy under Asymmetric Information,” Journal of Finance 40, 10311051.Google Scholar
Mintz, Jack. 1996: “Corporation Tax: A Survey,” Fiscal Studies 16, 2368.Google Scholar
Modigliani, Franco, and Miller, Merton. 1958. “The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment,” American Economic Review 48, 261297.Google Scholar
Myers, Stewart, and Majluf, Nicholas. 1983. “Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have Information That Investors Do Not Have,” Journal of Financial Economics 13, 187221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saez, Emmanuel. 2002. “The Desirability of Commodity Taxation under Non-Linear Income Taxation and Heterogeneous Tastes,” Journal of Public Economics 83, 217–30.Google Scholar
Schneider, Friedrich. 2005. “Shadow Economies around the World: What Do We Really Know?,” European Journal of Political Economy 21, 598642.Google Scholar
Slemrod, Joel. 2007. “Cheating Ourselves: The Economics of Tax Evasion,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 21, 2548.Google Scholar
Slemrod, Joel. 2018. “Is This Tax Reform, or Just Confusion?,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 32, 7396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tørsløv, Thomas, Wier, Ludvig, and Zucman, Gabriel. 2018. “The Missing Profits of Nations,” NBER Working Paper No. 24701.Google Scholar
White, Michelle. 1983. “Bankruptcy Costs and the New Bankruptcy Code,” Journal of Finance 38, 477488.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

The Role of the Corporate Tax
  • Roger Gordon, University of California, San Diego, Sarada, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Online ISBN: 9781108779982
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

The Role of the Corporate Tax
  • Roger Gordon, University of California, San Diego, Sarada, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Online ISBN: 9781108779982
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

The Role of the Corporate Tax
  • Roger Gordon, University of California, San Diego, Sarada, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Online ISBN: 9781108779982
Available formats
×