Do corporate taxes hinder innovation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mukherjee, Abhiroop; Singh, Manpreet; Zaldokas, Alminas
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2017.01.004
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 195-221
• 关键词: innovation; patents; research and development; New products; corporate taxes

摘要

We exploit staggered changes in state-level corporate tax rates to show that an increase in taxes reduces future innovation. A variety of tests, including those based on policy discontinuity at contiguous counties straddling borders of politically similar states, show that local economic conditions do not drive our results. The effect we document is consistent across the innovation spectrum: taxes affect not only patenting and R&D investment but also new product introductions, which we measure using textual analysis. Our empirical results are consistent with models that highlight the role of higher corporate taxes in reducing innovator incentives and discouraging risk-taking. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.