José Félix Sanz-Sanz

Corporate Taxation and Productivity Catch-Up: Evidence from European Firms

Firms that lie far behind the technological frontier have the most to gain from imitating the technology or management practices of others. That some firms converge relatively slowly to the productivity frontier suggests the existence of factors that cause them to underinvest in their productivity. In this paper we explore how far higher rates of corporate taxation affect firm productivity convergence by reducing the after tax returns to productivity enhancing investments for small firms. Using data for 11 European countries we find evidence for such an effect; productivity growth in small firms is slower the higher are corporate tax rates. Our results are robust to the use of instrumental variable and panel data techniques with quantitatively similar effects found from a natural experiment following the German tax reforms in 2001.

Energy Taxes and Household Compliance with the Kyoto Protocol

The implementation of tax reforms to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless before prescribing these measures, they should be subject to a cost-benefit analysis. This paper evaluates the effects, in Spain, of a rise in the excise duties on energy to a level equal to the average of the EU-15. To this end, a complete demand model, comprising four energy products and fourteen nonenergy products, is estimated. The results indicate that such a reform, despite the fact that it would reduce CO2 emissions by 11 million tons per year, would produce efficiency costs of 15.88¢ for each euro collected, causing households an average annual welfare loss of 228. Moreover, the progressivity and redistributive capacity of Spanish indirect taxation would be also reduced. As a result, the private welfare loss arising from the reform would be approximately four times greater than its estimated social benefits.

Reported gross income and marginal tax rates: estimation of the behavioural reactions of Spanish taxpayers

This article estimates, for the Spanish personal income tax, the elasticity of reported gross income to marginal tax rates. The identification of this elasticity has been performed using the reform approved by Law 35/2006, which came into force in January 2007. The elasticities obtained suggest the existence of important efficiency costs, with significant regional differences. The average elasticity estimated for Spain as a whole is 0.676. However, this elasticity is highly dispersed throughout the Spanish administrative regions, which indicates the unequal power of distortion of the tax. Thus, households whose principal source of income is salary display an elasticity of 0.337, compared to 0.682 for households whose main income source comes from business or savings. Lastly, a positive correlation is also detected between elasticity and income level: an elasticity of 3.6 is reached for taxpayers with an annual gross income exceeding 100 000€.

Further considerations on the link between adjustment costs and the productivity of R&D investment: evidence for Spain

This article constructs a dynamic model to estimate the impact of adjustment costs on the productivity of investment in R&D. In order to take into account the possible endogeneity of adjustment costs, the model is estimated by means of instrumental variables (IV), using a panel of Spanish companies. The results show that the elasticity of the productivity of R&D investment with regard to adjustment costs is high, with a value close to −1 (−0.96). This confirms that it is essential to include adjustment costs in the empirical analysis of R&D productivity, as suggested by Jones and Williams (1998) and Comin (2002, 2004).

Consumption tax revenue and personal income tax: analytical elasticities under non-standard tax structures

ABSTRACT This article models the elasticity of consumption taxation faced with changes in disposable income. Its calculation makes clear the importance of the design of the personal income tax and of the changes caused to the consumption of taxpayers. The modelling is performed for both individual taxpayers and the population as a whole.