Tax competition effects of a minimum tax rate: Empirical evidence from German municipalities

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Buettner, Thiess; Poehnlein, Maximilian
• 署名单位: University of Erlangen Nuremberg; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105148
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: Tax competition; Minimum tax; Local business tax; tax havens

摘要

This paper explores the effects of a federal law that obligates previously unregulated municipalities in Germany to set a minimum tax rate on firms' taxable profits. In particular, we examine the tax -policy response of municipalities that compete locally with tax -haven municipalities, i.e. municipalities that originally have set lower and, in some cases, even zero tax rates. The analysis distinguishes treated and not -treated municipalities based on their distance to a tax -haven. Our results show that the majority of municipalities do not change their tax policy. Apart from the tax -havens, only high -tax municipalities show a response - they reduce the business tax rate without experiencing a decline in tax revenues.