How much do taxes discourage incorporation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: MackieMason, JK; Gordon, RH
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1997.tb04810.x
• 发表日期: 1997
• 页码: 477-505
• 关键词: organizational form; corporate; OWNERSHIP; MARKET

摘要

The double taxation of corporate income should discourage firms from incorporating. We investigate the extent to which the aggregate allocation of assets and taxable income in the United States between corporate and noncorporate firms responds to the size of this tax distortion during the period 1959-1986. In theory, profitable firms should shift out of the corporate sector when the tax distortion is large, and conversely for firms with tax losses. Our empirical results provide strong support for these forecasts, and imply that the resulting excess burden equals 16 percent of business tax revenue.