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Should Tax Policy Favor High- or Low-Productivity Firms?

Author

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  • Dominika Langenmayr
  • Andreas Haufler
  • Christian Josef Bauer
Abstract
Heterogeneous firm productivity seems to provide an argument for governments to pursue ‘pick-the-winner’ strategies by subsidizing highly productive firms more, or taxing them less, than their less productive counterparts. We appraise this argument by studying the optimal choice of effective tax rates in an oligopolistic industry with heterogeneous firms. We show that the optimal structure of tax differentiation depends critically on the feasible level of corporate profit taxes, which in turn depends on the degree of international tax competition. When tax competition is moderate and profit taxes are high, favoring high-productivity firms is indeed the optimal policy. When tax competition is aggressive and profit taxes are low, however, the optimal tax policy is reversed and low-productivity firms are tax-favored.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominika Langenmayr & Andreas Haufler & Christian Josef Bauer, 2012. "Should Tax Policy Favor High- or Low-Productivity Firms?," CESifo Working Paper Series 4034, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4034
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    4. Jose Alves, 2019. "The impact of tax structure on investment: an empirical assessment for OECD countries," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 43(3), pages 291-309.
    5. Langenmayr, Dominika & Haufler, Andreas & Bauer, Christian J., 2015. "Should tax policy favor high- or low-productivity firms?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 18-34.
    6. Bogoroditskaya, N., 2021. "Tax evasion and R&D subsidy in a mixed market," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 30-49.
    7. van der Geest, Jesse, 2024. "Economic effects of tax avoidance and compliance," Other publications TiSEM aaca33bf-975d-4e21-9b5f-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Flach, Lisandra & Irlacher, Michael & Unger, Florian, 2021. "Corporate taxes and multi-product exporters: Theory and evidence from trade dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    9. Rishi R. Sharma, 2019. "Incentives to tax foreign investors," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 257-281, April.
    10. Pan, Wenhui & Zhao, Pengwei & Qin, Chunxiu & Ding, Xianfeng, 2020. "How do new members affect the relationship between principal investigator’s network position and academic output of granted funds?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Mario Coccia, 2018. "Optimization in R&D intensity and tax on corporate profits for supporting labor productivity of nations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 792-814, June.
    12. Philipp J. H. Schröder & Allan Sørensen, 2023. "Corporate taxation when firms are heterogeneous: ACE versus CBIT," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(2), pages 396-418, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business taxation; firm heterogeneity; tax competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

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