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Tax Setting in a Federal System: The Case of Personal Income Taxation in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Alejandro Esteller

    (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB); Universitat de Barcelona (UB))

  • Albert Solé

    (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB); Universitat de Barcelona (UB))

Abstract
In a decentralised tax system, the effects of tax policies enacted by one government are not confined to its own jurisdiction. First, if the tax base is mobile, tax rate increases by one regional government will raise the amount of taxes collected by other regional governments (horizontal tax externality). Second, if both the regional and the federal levels of government co-occupy the same fields of taxation, tax rate increases by one layer of government will reduce taxes collected by the other (vertical tax externality). Third, as Smart (1998) shows, if equalisation transfers are present, an increase in the standard equalisation tax rate provides incentives to raise taxes to the receiving provinces. In order to check the empirical relevance of these hypotheses, this paper estimates provincial tax setting functions with data on Canadian personal income taxation for the period 1982-96. We find a significant positive response of provincial tax rates to changes in the federal income tax rate, the tax rates of competing provinces, and the standard equalisation rate (only for receiving provinces). We also find that the reaction to horizontal competition is stronger in the provinces that do not receive equalisation transfers.

Suggested Citation

  • Alejandro Esteller & Albert Solé, 2001. "Tax Setting in a Federal System: The Case of Personal Income Taxation in Canada," Working Papers 2001/9, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    • Handle: RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2001-9
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Benno Torgler & Jan Werner, 2005. "Fiscal Autonomy and Tax Morale: Evidence from Germany," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-07, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    2. Ann Cavlovic & Harriet Jackson, "undated". "Bother thy neighbour? Intergovernmental Tax Interactions in the Canadian Federation," Working Papers-Department of Finance Canada 2003-09, Department of Finance Canada.
    3. Luca Gandullia, 2012. "The role of direct taxes in fiscal decentralization," DEP - series of economic working papers 6/2012, University of Genoa, Research Doctorate in Public Economics.
    4. Marko Köthenbürger, 2002. "Tax Competition and Fiscal Equalization," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(4), pages 391-408, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equalisation grants; Fiscal federalism; Personal income tax; Tax competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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