Are corporate tax rates, or countries, converging?

The statutory rate and effective tax rate imposed on corporation income—as well as the dispersion of these rates—began to decline in the 1980s. Is this due to changes in the domestic determinants of corporate taxation or increases in international pressures for tax competition?This paper finds clear evidence that the corporate tax rate is insulated from a country's revenue needs: across countries, there is no association of the expenditure-GDP ratio with the corporate statutory rate and only weak evidence of a positive association with the average rate. There is suggestive, but not definitive, evidence that the domestic role of the corporate tax as a backstop to the individual income tax is important: across countries, there is indeed a strong association between the top individual rate and the top statutory corporate rate.There is intriguing evidence about the role of international competitive pressures on corporate taxation. Measures of openness are negatively associated with statutory corporate rates, although not with revenues collected as a fraction of GDP. Strikingly, larger, more trade-intensive countries do collect more corporate tax, but this may be because these countries are more attractive venues for investment.     

Why is the corporate tax rate lower than the personal tax rate?: The role of new firms

In many OECD countries, statutory corporate tax rates are lower than personal income tax rates. This tax rate difference is often particularly large for small firms. The present paper argues that a reduction of the corporate tax rate below the personal tax rate is an optimal tax policy if there are problems of asymmetric information between investors and firms in the capital market. The reduction of the corporate tax rate below the personal tax rate encourages equity financing and thus mitigates the excessive use of debt financing induced by asymmetric information. Our main theoretical result stands in marked contrast to the traditional view of corporate taxation and corporate finance theory, according to which there is a tax disadvantage to equity financing. More recent empirical evidence on this issue, however, is in line with our result.     

税收负担对企业固定资产投资的影响——基于税种差异视角的研究

本文以2003—2018年中国上市企业数据为样本,从税种差异视角分析了增值税有效税率与企业所得税有效税率变化对企业固定资产投资的影响。研究发现,增值税有效税率与企业固定资产投资的关系依赖于宏观经济环境和企业税负转嫁能力。具体而言,在经济上行期或税负转嫁能力较强的企业中,增值税有效税率降低促进了企业固定资产投资增加。所得税有效税率与企业固定资产投资之间始终为显著负相关关系。所得税有效税率的降低可以通过增强企业内外部融资能力来促进其固定资产投资增加,特别是当企业债务风险相对较低时,所得税有效税率下降对固定资产投资的正向影响效果会随企业融资约束程度的上升而增大。本文分析在一定程度上说明了不同税种的税负变化对企业投资产生差异化影响,进而为减税助力企业投资提供了新的微观经验证据。     

生态赤字税：绿色发展与税制改革*

本文在量化生态占用并评估生态价值基础上,提出运用税收实现超额生态占用价值补偿的税收方案,也称生态赤字税。根据税制生态化的改革思路,本文运用CGE模型分析了征收生态赤字税和降低所得税的政策效应。本文研究发现：(1)在各税收方案中,生态赤字减少,就业增加,支持双重红利假说,全行业中间投入减少相对总产出减少更大,名义GDP保持增长;(2)实际GDP在生态赤字税基础上仅减少企业所得税的方案中下降,同时减少个人所得税则能实现增长,此时减税额低于生态赤字税收入;(3)在开征生态赤字税同时,降低个人所得税在保持经济增长方面较好,降低企业所得税在减少生态赤字方面较好,但降低企业所得税所减少的生态赤字价值低于降低个人所得税时劳动和资本增加值的提高。本文建议在完善生态占用核算基础上开征生态赤字税,并减轻所得税,促进经济增长由资源环境消耗转向劳动和资本投入的绿色发展。     

Taxes and firm investment

We investigate the firm-level investment response to unanticipated narrative shocks to average personal and corporate tax rates using a universal micro dataset of publicly-traded U.S. firms for the post-1976 period. Using local projections, we show that: (i) corporate tax shocks have significant effects on investment while personal tax shocks do not; (ii) corporate income tax responses are negative overall, and this result is driven by smaller firms who face larger borrowing constraints, especially when the accompanying monetary policy is contractionary or output gap is slack; (iii) there is some evidence of positive personal income tax responses during monetary contractions by dividend-paying firms, which is consistent with the recent literature.     

中国地方政府间的企业所得税竞争研究* ——基于面板数据空间滞后模型的实证分析

中国地方政府没有独立的税收立法权,但仍然可以通过企业所得税优惠开展中国式税收竞争。本文在构建省级企业所得税优惠衡量指标的基础上,使用面板数据空间滞后模型分析表明,中国地方政府间存在无序的策略互补式税收竞争,并且在企业所得税名义税收优惠上的竞争比实际税收优惠更为激烈。中央政府有必要从企业所得税名义税收优惠入手,采取措施规范地方政府间的企业所得税竞争行为,但同时也应该保持税收优惠政策本身及其实施效果的连续性。     

政企分配关系视角下企业税收负担的国际比较与启示

政府参与企业收入分配的主要形式是税收,企业利润税收负担率是反映这种分配关系的重要指标。近几年来,世界各国的企业利润税收负担率总体呈现下降态势,不同类型国家呈现经济越发达,企业利润税收负担率越低的总体特征,但不同收入水平国家之间差异较大,企业适用的最高边际税率对企业利润负担率的影响显著。从国际比较来看,中国企业利润税收负担率一直偏高,需要理顺政府与企业分配关系,实行实质性减税政策。     

个人所得税的累进性改革问题——基于单一个人所得税改革的前景分析

按照与市场经济运行机制相适应的要求,对个人所得税制度进行一次比较彻底变革,除了应在税基方面建立起分类与综合相结合的个人所得税制以外,一个核心的问题就是重构个人所得税的税率结构。我国可实行分两步走的渐进改革方案和一步到位的单一税改革方案。改革后的个人所得税制应该是按照递增的平均税率但又是递减的边际税率对全部所得课税这两方面的结合。中国具备实施单一税改革的政治、财政与技术条件,目前改革的时机也是合适的。     

完善个人所得税制度研究

个人所得税制改革必须与国情相结合分步实施、循序渐进,而不能一步到位。“十一五”乃至更长的一段时期,个人所得税制应按照主要体现收入再分配的政策目标来完善:实行综合与分类相结合的混合所得税制课税模式;简并税率形式,调整税率的幅度和结构;采取有效措施,减少个人所得税流失。     

我国企业所得税征管效率测度分析

高效的税收征管是良好税制的重要内容和保障,也是税制改革成功的基本条件。本文在对2000年以来我国企业所得税征管效率测度的基础上,进一步分析了近年来我国企业所得税及征管制度改革的征管效应。研究发现,近年我国企业所得税征管效率呈波浪式上升态势,效率水平还有较大提升空间;在当前情况下,国税局企业所得税征收比重的提高将会降低企业所得税征管效率,企业所得税占税收收入比重越高、在税收部门征管中越重要,就更有助于企业所得税征管效率的提升;2002年、2006年和2009年企业所得税、国地税征管责任分工调整改革,对税收征管效率的影响不显著,2008年内外资企业所得税统一改革,显著提升了企业所得税征管效率。     

赡养系数与个人所得税税制改革

文章在估算城镇居民收入分布函数的基础上,对考虑家庭赡养系数的个人所得税税制改革的政策效果进行了模拟分析。结果发现,在保证个人所得税总税收收入基本不变的前提下,在扣除标准中考虑赡养系数后,中低收入家庭的所得税负担有所减轻,高收入家庭的税收负担相应加重;相当一部分中等收入家庭(占总人口11.44%)的边际税率下降了5个百分点,这对刺激就业有着积极的影响。因此,考虑赡养系数能够使个人所得税更好地体现税收公平并发挥调节收入分配的职能。     

对新疆财政收入状况的分析与判断

近年来我国财政收入增长快于经济增长这一现象引起了世人的普遍关注，并由此引发了对财政收入与经济增长是否协调、企业负担是否加重等问题的思考。从税收负担、地方政府可支配财力、转移支付的公平效果进行分析，可得出结论：新疆财政收入增长过快的同时也加重了企业负担，且受新疆特定产业结构和分税制的影响，地方财力有所削弱。对此应当从产业政策和完善转移支付制度等方面进行调整。     

Identifying peers in international tax competition

Multinational companies (MNCs) have historically used corporate subsidiaries to isolate income earned in lower-taxed jurisdictions from tax in a higher-rate home country. This planning technique has been long accepted as a strategy to lower the MNC’s effective tax rate and maintain shareholder value. A recently study, however, demonstrates that this is an inefficient, and possibly inappropriate, strategy. This article conducts a comprehensive empirical benchmarking analysis by applying cluster analysis to empirically identify peer groups of MNCs operating in the pharmaceutical industry. We find that most firms consistently fall into the same cluster, providing evidence that income shifting can be benchmarked by industry sector. We also find special cases where firms should be excluded from the benchmark.     

中国个人所得税的性质及其效果分析

以工资薪金税收为主体的个人所得税是一种消费者税。由于起征额的存在,个人所得税并不是一种完全的所得税,而是一种个人收入调节税。基于消费者税的理论基础,提出了关于中国代表性居民纳税人的理论平均税负的一个简单模型,以及一个关于中国个人所得税对全部税收的贡献率的理论计算公式。中国个人所得税改革应着眼于如何改善工薪所得税的累进性,增强税收的收入再分配职能,相对提高低收入劳动者的实际报酬。为此,应将个人所得税易名为个人收入调节税,减少税率档次,提高免征额。     

Does dividend tax impede competition for corporate charters?

We develop a model of jurisdictional competition for corporate charters among the states in which a firm’s agency cost depends on the federal dividend income tax rate and the takeover regulations of its domicile state. When firms are mobile across states, the federal dividend income tax rate affects both the intensity of competition among the states and the equilibrium level of state takeover regulations. Our model shows that increasing dividend tax rate weakens the competition for corporate charters under a condition: dividend-paying and the market for corporate control are complementary corporate governance mechanisms. This condition holds empirically, suggesting that dividend tax not only discourages firms from paying dividends but also weakens their corporate governance by disincentivizing states to improve their corporate laws.     

控制权性质影响税收敏感性吗?——基于企业劳动力需求的检验

西方学者研究表明企业所得税是劳动力需求的重要影响因素,这一理论在中国是否适用?中国大部分上市公司为国有控股企业,这一特殊的制度背景是否会影响企业所得税与劳动力需求的关系?本文基于2007年企业所得税改革这一外生政策变化,在检验西方企业所得税与劳动力需求关系的理论在中国是否适用的基础上,就不同控制权的性质是否会影响企业劳动力需求的税收敏感性进行了检验。研究发现企业所得税税率降低和"就业税盾"增加提高了企业劳动力需求,但这种税率和"就业税盾"的变化对国有控股企业劳动力需求变化的影响要显著小于非国有控股企业。这表明税收是影响企业劳动力需求的重要因素,但国有控制权使得这种税收敏感性变弱。本文的研究结果不仅丰富了相关领域的国际学术文献,而且对我国就业政策的制定具有政策含义。     

Tax Ratios in Macroeconomics: Do Taxes Really Matter?

In various empirical studies so-called tax ratios (tax revenues expressed as a ratio of some aggregate tax base) are employed as approximations for tax burdens. The most difficult problem in calculating tax ratios is the way in which personal income tax revenues are attributed to labour and capital. We argue that the methodology of Mendoza et al. (1994) is seriously flawed in this respect. Using information from national sources, we calculate more accurate tax ratios for eight OECD countries that differ substantially from those of Mendoza et al. (1997). Still, the results of the empirical analysis of Mendoza et al. (1997) do not change significantly if we use our tax ratios instead of those of Mendoza et al.. However, the results change once country specific effects are taken up in the model. Capital taxes are, e.g., shown to reduce economic growth. We find that the results of Daveri and Tabellini (2000) are neither sensitive to the use of the tax ratios nor to the specification of the model: high labour taxes have increased unemployment in Europe.     

Numerical simulation on property tax reform: evidence from China

This article analyses the property tax reform in China in a computable general equilibrium model that recognizes the interaction between and among housing markets in different provinces and macroeconomic development. Using real data in 2010, we present the benchmark equilibrium for reference property and income tax rates. Then, we examine different property and income tax policies and make a comparison of their production, consumption, welfare and national income. We find that the implementation of property tax would decrease the house production at the expense of welfare in taxed area. The expansion of the taxed regions may increase the total social welfare and national income. Even though property tax policy may not be able to change the income distribution in China, increasing income tax rate could narrow the income disparity. Finally, this article shows the reliability of the conclusions when sensitivity analysis on optimal condition of equilibrium computation is performed under varied property tax policy.     

Effective Taxation of Top Incomes in Germany

We exploit a dataset that includes the individual tax returns of all taxpayers in the top percentile of the income distribution in Germany to pin down the effective income taxation of households with very high incomes. Taking tax base erosion into account, we find that the top percentile of the income distribution pays an effective average tax rate of 30.5% and contributes more than a quarter of total income tax revenue. Within the top percentile, the effective average tax rate is first increasing, then decreasing, with income. Since the 1990s, effective average tax rates for the German super‐rich have fallen by about a third, with major reductions occurring in the wake of the personal income tax reform of 2001–05. As a result, the concentration of net incomes at the very top of the distribution has strongly increased in Germany.     

THE INCOME REDISTRIBUTION EFFECT OF CHINA'S PERSONAL INCOME TAX: WHAT THE MICRO‐DATA SAY

This article uses continuous micro‐level data to investigate the income redistribution effect of the personal income tax (PIT) in China beginning in 1997. We find that the average tax rate plays a larger role in determining the income redistribution effect of PIT than tax progressivity does. Although tax progressivity decreased as a result of rising personal incomes and a constant PIT policy prior to 2005, the income redistribution effect of the PIT improved as a result of the higher average tax rate. The tax reform beginning in 2006 increased tax progressivity while decreasing the average tax rate, thereby weakening the income redistribution effect of the PIT. Further analysis indicates that the middle‐income group was the only net loser before 2005, but it benefited from the PIT policy reform. A cross‐country comparison shows that China has a lower PIT burden and higher progressivity than developed countries; in fact, China's levels of progressivity and tax burden are similar to those of Latin American countries. (JEL H24, D31, H31)