Tax reforms and inter-temporal shifting of corporate income: evidence from tax records in Slovakia

0531078 - NHÚ 2021 RIV CZ eng V - Research Report
Bukovina, J. - Lichard, Tomáš - Palguta, J. - Žúdel, B.
Tax reforms and inter-temporal shifting of corporate income: evidence from tax records in Slovakia.
Prague: CERGE-EI, 2020. 51 s. CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, 660. ISSN 1211-3298
Institutional support: RVO:67985998
Keywords : corporate income tax * elasticity * inter-temporal profit shifting
OECD category: Applied Economics, Econometrics
https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp660.pdf

We use administrative tax return data for all corporations in Slovakia to demonstrate how policies facilitating inter-temporal income shifting result in elevated corporate income tax (CIT) elasticity estimates. Our strategy exploits kinks in the statutory tax schedules and policy reforms of tax carry-forwards. If inter-temporal shifting is neglected, our bunching estimates imply CIT elasticity of up to 0.65, suggesting a highly sensitive tax base with respect to the marginal tax rate. However, we show that CIT elasticity drops at least 21.2-49.1% when we remove the inter-temporal shifting component. This correction significantly reduces the estimated marginal excess burden of corporate taxation.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0309826