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Why the Current Tax Rate Tells You Little: Competing for Mobile and Immobile Firms

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  • Dominika Langenmayr
  • Martin Simmler
Abstract
Firms should use all available information to anticipate future tax rates. Firm mobility, as a key determinant of corporate tax rates, is one such source of information. We first show theoretically that a government sets a higher tax rates on firm profits if average firm mobility in its jurisdiction is low, and that the potential entry of immobile firms in the future deters firms from entering a jurisdiction today. We then test and confirm these predictions in a well-identified setting, using the rapid growth of wind power plants (a very immobile industry) and the large variation in local business taxes across Germany for identification.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominika Langenmayr & Martin Simmler, 2017. "Why the Current Tax Rate Tells You Little: Competing for Mobile and Immobile Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 6827, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6827
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Germeshausen, Robert & Heim, Sven & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2021. "Support for renewable energy: The case of wind power," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-074, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Haupt, Alexander & Krieger, Tim, 2020. "The role of relocation mobility in tax and subsidy competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Schneider, Andrea, 2017. "Policy diffusion and the competition for mobile resources," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168203, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate taxation; firm mobility; commitment; tax competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

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