Fiscal interactions in the short and the long run: evidence from German reunification

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thushyanthan Baskaran

Abstract This paper uses the quasi-experiment of Germany’s reunification to test for strategic interactions in local taxation. After reunification, East-German municipalities were allowed to choose, for the first time in decades, local business and property tax rates. I explore whether the tax rates they chose were influenced by the tax rates in adjacent West-German municipalities. The results show that East-German municipalities mimicked the business tax rates of their western neighbors immediately after reunification, but not in later years. I find no evidence for interactions in property tax rates. These results are broadly consistent with models of social learning in fiscal policy.

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Friedman ◽  
Zvi Hercowitz ◽  
Jonathan Sidi

AbstractThis paper analyzes the quantitative macroeconomic implications of a fiscal policy regime based on exogenous tax rates paths and public debt/GDP target in an open economy. In this setup, government spending accommodates tax revenues and target deficits. In particular, we concentrate on pre-announced tax cuts, as well as on the adoption of a lower debt target – following policies conducted in Israel during the 2000s. We construct a model where domestic production requires imported inputs, and simulate the effects of these policies. The analysis focuses on the dynamics generated by the announcements of these policy steps, followed by their implementation. The model has the implication that a credible announcement of a future tax cut has an expansionary effect on impact, similar in nature to the effects of productivity shocks. Also, the model implies that the announcement of a lower public debt/GDP target has a contractionary effect, while it’s implementation leads to higher output in the long-run.


Significance Tax arrears are expected to rise to 95 billion euros (106 billion dollars) by year-end following the introduction of new taxes. An ever-rising tax burden is encouraging evasion while discouraging investment, which prefers a tax regime that is both low and predictable. Impacts Nearly 70% of taxpayers may not meet their obligations in full this year, according to the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A 3-percentage-point increase in the basic rate of business tax will hit small firms in particular. Individuals face not only higher income tax rates but a plethora of new indirect taxes and increases in property tax. Evasion will increase the sense that austerity weighs more on some than others, making the policy politically less sustainable.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4(J)) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Valdemar J. Undji ◽  
Teresia Kaulihowa

The occurrences of capital flight continue to be of great concern for many developing countries and Namibia is not an exception to this. This study aimed at examining the effect of fiscal policy on capital flight in Namibia for the period, 2009-2018. To assess this, the Auto-Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) bound test to cointegration technique was employed. The finding revealed that there is a long-run relationship between the selected macroeconomic factors and capital flight. In particular in the long-run government expenditure and its interaction with debt stock are found to positively affect capital flight. In the short-run however, past capital flight, previous period tax rates, previous external debt, current debt stock, previous inflation rate, as well as previous financial deepening were found to bear a positive effect on capital flight. Estimate of capital flight using the residual approach shows that Namibia lost about N$ 42 billion in 9 years through capital flight. This means on average Namibia lost close to N$ 5 billion in capital flight. These empirical findings, call for serious policy interventions in order to minimize and contain the issue of capital flight in the country.


AERA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233285842199114
Author(s):  
Phuong Nguyen-Hoang

Tax increment financing (TIF)—an economic (re)development tool originally designed for urban cities—has been available to rural communities for decades. This is the first study to focus solely on TIF in rural school districts, to examine TIF effects on school districts’ property tax base and rates, and to conduct event-study estimations of TIF effects. The study finds that TIF has mostly positive effects on rural school districts’ property tax base and mixed effects on property tax rates, and that TIF-induced increases in tax base come primarily from residential property and slightly from commercial property. The study’s findings assert the importance of returned excess increment if rural school districts in Iowa and many other states are to benefit from TIF.


2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cem Karayalçin

The paper studies the effects of an expansionary fiscal policy in a general equilibrium model of a small open economy. Households are assumed to possess habit-forming, endogenous rates of time preference. In response to fiscal shocks, the model generates cyclical endogenous persistence and procyclical time paths for consumption, employment, and investment, as well as a countercyclical path for the current account. Furthermore, fiscal shocks are shown to have positive long-run effects on output and negative long-run effects on consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-250
Author(s):  
Scott R. Baker ◽  
Stephanie Johnson ◽  
Lorenz Kueng

Using comprehensive high-frequency state and local sales tax data, we show that shopping behavior responds strongly to changes in sales tax rates. Even though sales taxes are not observed in posted prices and have a wide range of rates and exemptions, consumers adjust in many dimensions. They stock up on storable goods before taxes rise and increase online and cross-border shopping in both the short and long run. The difference between short- and long-run spending responses has important implications for the efficacy of using sales taxes for countercyclical policy and for the design of an optimal tax framework. Interestingly, households adjust spending similarly for both taxable and tax-exempt goods. We embed an inventory problem into a continuous-time consumption-savings model and demonstrate that this behavior is optimal in the presence of shopping trip fixed costs. The model successfully matches estimated short-run and long-run tax elasticities. We provide additional evidence in favor of this new shopping complementarity mechanism. (JEL E21, E32, G51, H21, H25, H71)


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