What Determine the Corporate Tax Rates During the COVID-19? Evidence From 113 Countries

Fiscal policy implications become an important tool to soften the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this backdrop, this paper analyses the drivers of corporate tax rates during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., in 2020 and 2021). The results from 113 advanced and developing economies show that a higher level of the COVID-19-related uncertainty is positively associated with the corporate tax rates. Similarly, the country size (measured by total population) increases the corporate tax rates. Per capita income is negatively related to the corporate tax rates, but this evidence is insufficient to consider different estimation techniques. The paper also discusses potential fiscal policy implications for the driving mechanism of corporate tax rates for the post-COVID-19 era.

Faktor Penentu Tarif Pajak Efektif Pada Perusahaan Kesehatan: Sebelum dan Saat Covid-19

The pandemic of Covid-19 had attacked and contribute to the Indonesia’ economics negatively. State tax revenues could not be achieved given the restrictions on activities that were intensified to prevent the spread of virus. Incentives issued by the government are one of the factors causing the decline in state revenues, one of which is in the form of lowering corporate tax rates. The effective tax rate used in measuring corporate tax management is tested with related-parties transaction, profitability, leverage, and ownership structure variables. The effect of this variable is then compared in 2019 and 2020 to observe whether there is a difference before and during the pandemic. The research was conducted on health sector companiesas a sector that was positively affected by the pandemic. The results of the study show that leverage has an effect on the effective tax rate (ETR) in 2020 while ownership structure has an effect on the ETR in 2019. The effective tax rate of health sector companies, which allegedly decreased due to incentives from the government, has actually increased during the pandemic.

Analisis faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi struktur modal di Bursa Efek Indonesia

Capital structure is a combination of capital and debt so that it is very influential on the company's financial position. To finance operations, companies can use funds from debt or capital. However, the company's management must know whether the company is able to bear the financial risks or costs of these funds to prevent the company's bankruptcy. The purpose of this research is to analyze the factors that influence the capital structure. The independent variables are corporate tax rates, non-debt tax savings, investment opportunity sets, sales growth, and profitability. The sample data tested were obtained from the annual reports of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The reporting period used in this study was five years and amounted to 2,210. The data obtained were then processed through the SPSS 25 and Eviews 10 systems. The results revealed that corporate tax rates and profitability have a significant negative effect on capital structure. There is a significant positive effect of the investment opportunity set variable and sales growth on the owned capital structure. Another finding is that non-debt tax savings have no significant effect on capital structure.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMIC POLICY UNCERTAINTY AND CORPORATE TAX RATES

This paper investigates the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and corporate tax rates in a panel dataset of 126 countries throughout 2003–2018. We use the so-called “World Uncertainty Index” to measure the level of economic policy uncertainty. We utilize various estimation techniques and find a one-way causality from economic policy uncertainty to corporate tax rates. Specifically, a rise in economic policy uncertainty leads to higher corporate tax rates. We also discuss potential implications.

Can tax competition boost demand? Causes and consequences of the global race to the bottom in corporate tax rates

Corporate tax rates have been consistently falling around the world for decades now. This paper aims to explain the causes and consequences of this ‘global race to the bottom’. In particular, the author wishes to test the hypothesis that this race to the bottom is driven by demand-boosting corporate tax competition, where, contrary to traditional Kaleckian theory, lower corporate taxes may positively affect demand through increased investment due to multinational enterprises (MNEs) that seek higher net profits through (re)locating in low-tax jurisdictions. In order to do so, the author builds a general theory of the effect of average effective corporate tax rates (AECTRs) on MNE location. This theory is used to justify the addition of a tax-sensitive foreign direct investment channel in the investment function of a canonical Kaleckian model. As a result, this paper determines the conditions under which a country may be ‘tax-competition-led’, where lowering AECTRs increases demand through increased MNE investment and in spite of the negative effect on government expenditure given a balanced budget. The findings of this paper are that it is possible for an economy to be tax-competition-led, though it is unlikely in many cases given the existence of a coordination problem that lessens or nullifies the effect of lowering AECTRs when many countries do so simultaneously. The author refers to this problem as the ‘paradox of tax competition’, since, like other fallacies of composition commonly identified in Post-Keynesian thought, this is a phenomenon where the benefits of one country acting alone are reduced or eliminated if other countries act the same way at the same time. Based on this model, crude but nonetheless informative estimates are given that indicate that the race to the bottom has had a negative effect on demand in the vast majority of OECD countries. In this sense, the author finds that the persistence of policymakers to continue to compete on corporate taxes ‘imprudent’. Model-consistent policy recommendations are offered, chief among which are tax coordination or, failing that, technical changes in how individual countries collect corporation tax.