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Tax Competition with Intermunicipal Cooperation

Author

Listed:
  • David R. Agrawal
  • Marie-Laure Breuillé
  • Julie Le Gallo
Abstract
We study local tax competition when municipalities can voluntarily cooperate. We compare the intensity of interjurisdictional policy interdependence between competing municipalities within the same “establishment for inter-municipal cooperation” (EIMC) and competing municipalities outside of the cooperative unit. To resolve the endogeneity of the decision to cooperate we apply the approach of Kelejian and Piras (2014). The strategic response to the average tax rate among peer members of the same EIMC is less intense than the response to the average tax rate of municipalities outside of the cooperative unit. A one percentage point decrease in the average tax rate of non-members lowers the own-jurisdiction tax rate by 0.58 percentage points, while a one unit decrease in the tax rate of towns within the EIMC lowers the own-jurisdiction rate by 0.31 percentage points. Our empirical methods can be used to study strategic interactions within other cooperative groups, including supra-national institutions such as the European Union.

Suggested Citation

  • David R. Agrawal & Marie-Laure Breuillé & Julie Le Gallo, 2024. "Tax Competition with Intermunicipal Cooperation," CESifo Working Paper Series 11334, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11334
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Kim, Donghyuk, 2023. "Economic spillovers and political payoffs in government competition for firms: Evidence from the Kansas City Border War," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax competition; intermunicipal cooperation; spatial autoregressive models; endogenous weight matrix; local public finance; networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C20 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - General
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

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