How Do Firms Respond To Place-Based Tax Incentives?

How Do Firms Respond To Place-Based Tax Incentives? PDF Author: Hyejin Ku
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this paper, we evaluate the effects of payroll tax changes on firm behavior, by exploiting a unique policy setting in Norway, where a system of geographically differentiated payroll taxes was suddenly abolished due to an EU regulation. We find that firms are only partially able to shift the increased costs from higher payroll tax rates onto workers' wages. Instead, firms respond to the tax increase primarily by reducing employment. The drop in employment following the tax reform is particularly pronounced in labor intensive firms--which experience a larger windfall loss due to the tax reform than non-labor intensive firms--and in multi-establishment firms--which respond to the payroll tax increase in part by reducing the number of establishments per firm. Overall, our findings point to liquidity effects whereby a sudden and largely unexpected payroll tax increase aggravates firms' liquidity constraints, forcing them to cut employment to bring down costs.

How Do Firms Respond To Place-Based Tax Incentives?

How Do Firms Respond To Place-Based Tax Incentives? PDF Author: Hyejin Ku
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this paper, we evaluate the effects of payroll tax changes on firm behavior, by exploiting a unique policy setting in Norway, where a system of geographically differentiated payroll taxes was suddenly abolished due to an EU regulation. We find that firms are only partially able to shift the increased costs from higher payroll tax rates onto workers' wages. Instead, firms respond to the tax increase primarily by reducing employment. The drop in employment following the tax reform is particularly pronounced in labor intensive firms--which experience a larger windfall loss due to the tax reform than non-labor intensive firms--and in multi-establishment firms--which respond to the payroll tax increase in part by reducing the number of establishments per firm. Overall, our findings point to liquidity effects whereby a sudden and largely unexpected payroll tax increase aggravates firms' liquidity constraints, forcing them to cut employment to bring down costs.

Rethinking Property Tax Incentives for Business

Rethinking Property Tax Incentives for Business PDF Author: Daphne A. Kenyon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558442337
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The use of property tax incentives for business by local governments throughout the United States has escalated over the last 50 years. While there is little evidence that these tax incentives are an effective instrument to promote economic development, they cost state and local governments $5 to $10 billion each year in forgone revenue. Three major obstacles can impede the success of property tax incentives as an economic development tool. First, incentives are unlikely to have a significant impact on a firm's profitability since property taxes are a small part of the total costs for most businesses--averaging much less than 1 percent of total costs for the U.S. manufacturing sector. Second, tax breaks are sometimes given to businesses that would have chosen the same location even without the incentives. When this happens, property tax incentives merely deplete the tax base without promoting economic development. Third, widespread use of incentives within a metropolitan area reduces their effectiveness, because when firms can obtain similar tax breaks in most jurisdictions, incentives are less likely to affect business location decisions. This report reviews five types of property tax incentives and examines their characteristics, costs, and effectiveness: property tax abatement programs; tax increment finance; enterprise zones; firm-specific property tax incentives; and property tax exemptions in connection with issuance of industrial development bonds. Alternatives to tax incentives should be considered by policy makers, such as customized job training, labor market intermediaries, and business support services. State and local governments also can pursue a policy of broad-based taxes with low tax rates or adopt split-rate property taxation with lower taxes on buildings than land.State policy makers are in a good position to increase the effectiveness of property tax incentives since they control how local governments use them. For example, states can restrict the use of incentives to certain geographic areas or certain types of facilities; publish information on the use of property tax incentives; conduct studies on their effectiveness; and reduce destructive local tax competition by not reimbursing local governments for revenue they forgo when they award property tax incentives.Local government officials can make wiser use of property tax incentives for business and avoid such incentives when their costs exceed their benefits. Localities should set clear criteria for the types of projects eligible for incentives; limit tax breaks to mobile facilities that export goods or services out of the region; involve tax administrators and other stakeholders in decisions to grant incentives; cooperate on economic development with other jurisdictions in the area; and be clear from the outset that not all businesses that ask for an incentive will receive one.Despite a generally poor record in promoting economic development, property tax incentives continue to be used. The goal is laudable: attracting new businesses to a jurisdiction can increase income or employment, expand the tax base, and revitalize distressed urban areas. In a best case scenario, attracting a large facility can increase worker productivity and draw related firms to the area, creating a positive feedback loop. This report offers recommendations to improve the odds of achieving these economic development goals.

Jobs for the Poor

Jobs for the Poor PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610440285
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
Even as the United States enjoys a booming economy and historically low levels of unemployment, millions of Americans remain out of work or underemployed, and joblessness continues to plague many urban communities, racial minorities, and people with little education. In Jobs for the Poor, Timothy Bartik calls for a dramatic shift in the way the United States confronts this problem. Today, most efforts to address this problem focus on ways to make workers more employable, such as job training and welfare reform. But Bartik argues that the United States should put more emphasis on ways to increase the interest of employers in creating jobs for the poor—or the labor demand side of the labor market. Bartik's bases his case for labor demand policies on a comprehensive review of the low-wage labor market. He examines the effectiveness of government interventions in the labor market, such as Welfare Reform, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Welfare-to-Work programs, and asks if having a job makes a person more employable. Bartik finds that public service employment and targeted employer wage subsidies can increase employment among the poor. In turn, job experience significantly increases the poor's long-run earnings by enhancing their skills and reputation with employers. And labor demand policies can avoid causing inflation or displacing other workers by targeting high-unemployment labor markets and persons who would otherwise be unemployed. Bartik concludes by proposing a large-scale labor demand program. One component of the program would give a tax credit to employers in areas of high unemployment. To provide disadvantaged workers with more targeted help, Bartik also recommends offering short-term subsidies to employers—particularly small businesses and nonprofit organizations—that hire people who otherwise would be unlikely to find jobs. With experience from subsidized jobs, the new workers should find it easier to obtain future year-round employment. Although these efforts would not catapult poor families into the middle class overnight, Bartik offers a powerful argument that having a full-time worker in every household would help improve the lives of millions. Jobs for the Poor makes a compelling case that full employment can be achieved if the country has the political will and adopts policies that address both sides of the labor market. Copublished with the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Economic Research

The Unknown Consequences of Place-Based Tax Incentives

The Unknown Consequences of Place-Based Tax Incentives PDF Author: Michelle D. Layser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Nearly 30 years have passed since Professor Ellen Aprill warned policymakers not to rely on tax incentives to fight urban poverty. At the time, federal and state governments were just beginning to embrace so-called place-based tax incentives, which are used to promote investment in low-income areas. Aprill was skeptical and expressed doubts about their capacity to change business behavior or to benefit low-income residents. Nevertheless, federal and state lawmakers charged forward, introducing new place-based tax incentive programs in the decades that followed. Today, tax incentives are a central part of most place-based policy initiatives. There is still a lot we do not know about the consequences about place-based tax incentives, however. Almost everything we do know about place-based tax incentives has been produced by economists. Those studies cast serious doubt about place-based tax incentives' capacity to benefit low-income communities, but they also have significant limitations. As a result, our understanding of the consequences of place-based tax incentives is incomplete, making it difficult to chart a path forward. The purpose of this Essay is to highlight several alternative scholarly frameworks that may be relevant to understand the consequences of place-based tax incentives. It proceeds with the modest goal of starting a conversation, and it makes no attempt to provide the final word. Rather, this Essay argues that the field of place-based tax incentive research must be expanded to include new, diverse perspectives--from researchers across the academy, from scholars of color and other nontraditional backgrounds, and even from members of low-income communities.

The Right Kind of Help? Tax Incentives for Staying Small

The Right Kind of Help? Tax Incentives for Staying Small PDF Author: Ms.Dora Benedek
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484302559
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Some countries support smaller firms through tax incentives in an effort to stimulate job creation and startups, or alleviate specific distortions, such as financial constraints or high regulatory or tax compliance costs. In addition to fiscal costs, tax incentives that discriminate by firm size without specifically targeting R&D investment can create disincentives for firms to invest and grow, negatively affecting firm productivity and growth. This paper analyzes the relationship between size-related corporate income tax incentives and firm productivity and growth, controlling for other policy and firm-level factors, including product market regulation, financial constraints and innovation. Using firm level data from four European economies over 2001–13, we find evidence that size-related tax incentives that do not specifically target R&D investment can weigh on firm productivity and growth. These results suggest that when designing size-based tax incentives, it is important to address their potential disincentive effects, including by making them temporary and targeting young and innovative firms, and R&D investment explicitly.

Making Sense of Incentives

Making Sense of Incentives PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880996684
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Bartik provides a clear and concise overview of how state and local governments employ economic development incentives in order to lure companies to set up shop—and provide new jobs—in needy local labor markets. He shows that many such incentive offers are wasteful and he provides guidance, based on decades of research, on how to improve these programs.

ADA Tax Incentives Packet

ADA Tax Incentives Packet PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Barrier-free design
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


Do Place-Based Tax Incentives Create Jobs?

Do Place-Based Tax Incentives Create Jobs? PDF Author: Hyejin Ku
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of place-based payroll taxes in stimulating local employment by exploiting a unique policy setting in Norway, where a system of geographically differentiated payroll taxes was suddenly abolished due to an EU regulation. The reform was enforced independently of the regional labor market developments, creating arguably exogenous variation in the payroll tax rates that firms in different local labor markets faced over time. We find evidence of partial shifting of payroll tax increases on to worker wages as well as a significant decline in local employment. These findings suggest that in settings with some degrees of wage rigidity, place-based payroll tax incentives can be effective in stimulating local employment.

Tax Law Design and Drafting, Volume 1

Tax Law Design and Drafting, Volume 1 PDF Author: Mr.Victor Thuronyi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 9781557755872
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description
Edited by Victor Thuronyi, this book offers an introduction to a broad range of issues in comparative tax law and is based on comparative discussion of the tax laws of developed countries. It presents practical models and guidelines for drafting tax legislation that can be used by officials of developing and transition countries. Volume I covers general issues, some special topics, and major taxes other than income tax.

Investing in Kids

Investing in Kids PDF Author: Timothy J. Bartik
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880993723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
This book presents arguments for the following propositions: Local economic development strategies in the United States should include extensive investments in high quality early childhood programs, such as prekindergarten (pre K) education, child care, and parenting assistance. Economic development policies should also include reforms in business tax incentives. But economic development benefitsChigher earnings per capita in the local communityCcan be better achieved if business incentives are complemented by early childhood programs. Economic development benefits can play an important role in motivating a grassroots movement for investing in our kids.