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Effective Labor Taxation and the International Location of Headquarters

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Egger
  • Doina Radulescu
  • Nora Strecker
  • Doina Maria Radulescu
Abstract
Profit taxes are widely acknowledged to influence the location of firms’ headquarters. This paper sheds light on the role of aspects of labor taxation for the international location of headquarters. While profit taxes can be avoided in various ways, it is much harder for firms to manipulate the firm-specific labor tax base so that they may be relatively important for firm location. We construct a unique data set of effective labor taxes in 120 countries and use data on the location of 35,206 firms to analyze the impact of labor income tax rates, the progressivity of the income tax schedule, and social security contributions on firms’ decisions where to locate their headquarters. The findings suggest that both a higher progressivity of the tax system and higher (employee- and employer-borne) social security contributions negatively influence a country’s attractiveness for headquarters location. A one percentage point increase in a country’s average labor income tax rate reduces its probability to be chosen as the headquarters location for the average firm by about 0.023 percentage points.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2012. "Effective Labor Taxation and the International Location of Headquarters," CESifo Working Paper Series 3822, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3822
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Francesca Spinelli & Dorothée Rouzet & Hongyong Zhang, 2020. "Networks of foreign affiliates: Evidence from Japanese micro‐data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(7), pages 1841-1867, July.
    2. Max Gillman, 2021. "Income tax evasion: tax elasticity, welfare, and revenue," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 533-566, June.
    3. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Danny McGowan & Ismael Sanz & José F. Sanz‐Sanz, 2018. "Corporate Taxation and Productivity Catch‐Up: Evidence from European Firms," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(2), pages 372-399, April.
    4. María J. Prados & Erik Meije & Francisco Pérez-Arce, 2019. "Macroeconomic Effects of Social Security Totalization Agreements," Working Papers wp407, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    5. Egger, Peter H. & Erhardt, Katharina & Keuschnigg, Christian, 2020. "Heterogeneous tax sensitivity of firm-level investments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 512-538.
    6. Mathilde Muñoz, 2021. "Do European Top Earners React to Labour Taxation Through Migration ?," PSE Working Papers halshs-03252899, HAL.
    7. Bösenberg, Simon & Egger, Peter H. & Strecker, Nora M., 2014. "On the distribution of tax effects on headquarters location," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 308-313.
    8. Fischer, Leonie & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Spengel, Christoph & Steinbrenner, Daniela, 2021. "Tax policies in a transition to a knowledge-based economy: The effective tax burden of companies and highly skilled labour," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-096, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Egger, Peter H. & Strecker, Nora M. & Zoller-Rydzek, Benedikt, 2020. "Estimating bargaining-related tax advantages of multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    10. Argilés-Bosch, Josep Mª & Ravenda, Diego & Garcia-Blandón, Josep, 2021. "E-commerce and labour tax avoidance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Mathilde Munoz, 2019. "Do European Top Earners React to Labour Taxation Through Migration ?," PSE Working Papers hal-02876987, HAL.
    12. Christian Jaag & Christian Keuschnigg & Sonia Strube Martins & Ivo Scherrer & Jose Parra Moyano, 2013. "Auswirkungen der 1:12-Initiative," Studies and Reports, Swiss Economics, pages 1-60, September.
    13. Kimberly A. Clausing, . "Does tax drive the headquarters locations of the world’s biggest companies?," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    14. Mathilde Munoz, 2019. "Do European Top Earners React to Labour Taxation Through Migration ?," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876987, HAL.
    15. Martin F. Grace & David L. Sjoquist, 2020. "The Effect of Taxes on the Location of Property‐Casualty Insurance Firms," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(4), pages 1035-1062, December.
    16. Max Gillman, 2020. "Technical Appendix: “Income Tax Evasion: Tax Elasticity, Welfare, and Revenueâ€," Working Papers 1018, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Economics.
    17. Mathilde Muñoz, 2021. "Do European Top Earners React to Labour Taxation Through Migration ?," Working Papers halshs-03252899, HAL.
    18. Mathilde Munoz, 2019. "Do European Top Earners React to Labour Taxation Through Migration ?," Working Papers hal-02876987, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor taxation; headquarters; location choice; nested logit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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