Tax Cuts In Open Economies

A reduction in income tax rates generates substantial dynamic responses within the framework of the standard neoclassical growth model. The short-run revenue loss after an income tax cut is partly - or, depending on parameter values, even completely - offset by growth in the long-run, due to the resulting incentives to further accumulate capital. We study how the dynamic response of government revenue to a tax cut changes if we allow a Ramsey economy to engage in international trade: the open economy's ability to reallocate resources between labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries reduces the negative effect of factor accumulation on factor returns, thus encouraging the economy to accumulate more than it would do under autarky. We explore the quantitative implications of this intuition for the US in terms of two issues recently treated in the literature: dynamic scoring and the Laffer curve. Our results demonstrate the internaional trade enhances the response of government revenue to tax cuts by a relevant amount. In our benchmark calibration, a reduction in the capital-income tax rate has virtually no effect on government revenue in steady state.

This book brings together research from some of the world s leading tax economists to discuss appropriate directions for tax reform in small open economies. The eminent contributors (including Altshuler, Creedy, Freebairn, Gravelle, Heady, Kalb, Sørensen and Zodrow) investigate the beneficial directions for medium-term tax reform in the light of global developments and lessons from the latest taxation research. In addressing this issue, they review recent advances in both the theoretical and empirical tax literature and reform evidence from individual countries. Topics covered include the impact of taxes on economic performance; international and corporate taxation; personal tax and welfare systems; environmental taxation; and country-specific tax reform experiences. Bringing together leading international experts to explore specific policy reforms, this book will prove essential reading for academics and researchers of public economics, fiscal policy and tax reform. It will also be warmly welcomed both by undergraduate and graduate students of public economics or the economics of taxation, as well as policymakers and government officials working in the area of tax policy.

This paper focuses on the macroeconomic and budgetary impact of tax reforms in a New Keynesian two-country model. Our results show that both income and consumption unilateral tax rate reductions do not constitute a "free lunch", in the sense that they have negative budgetary consequences for the country which implements them. In addition, the degree of self-financing implied by our model is in the 81⁄2-24 percent range. Since the degree of self-financing estimated in previous literature was larger, we conclude that in our model not only the "lunch" is not "free", but is also not that "cheap". A comparison of alternative (income-tax versus consumption-tax based) fiscal stimulus packages shows that consumption tax cuts imply a larger short-run impact on domestic output but the income tax cuts stimulate the domestic economy more in the long run. We also look at the implications of a revenue-neutral tax reform in which consumption taxes are increased to compensate for lower income tax collection.

A Financial Times Best Economics Book of the Year A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year “A highly intelligent, fact-based defense of the virtues of an open, competitive economy and society.” —Fareed Zakaria, Global Public Square, CNN “Amid a growing backlash against international economic interdependence, Clausing makes a strong case in favor of foreign trade in goods and services, the cross-border movement of capital, and immigration. This valuable book amounts to a primer on globalization.” —Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs Critics on the Left have long attacked open markets and free trade agreements for exploiting the poor and undermining labor, while those on the Right complain that they unjustly penalize workers back home. Kimberly Clausing takes on both sides in her compelling case that open economies are actually a force for good. Turning to the data to separate substance from spin, she shows how international trade makes countries richer, raises living standards, benefits consumers, and brings nations together, and outlines a progressive agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy, and establish a better partnership between labor and the business community.

This note assesses the relative efficiency of different tax bases in an open economy. If terms of trade effects are large, lump-sum taxation may be inferior to distortionary consumption or wage taxes. This result is demonstrated analytically using a simple neoclassical model. An overlapping generations, general equilibrium, simulation model is then employed to show the empirical significance of the effects involved.

This paper examines the effects of taxation of human capital, physical capital and foreign assets in a multi-sector model of endogenous growth. It is shown that in general the growth rate is reduced by taxes on capital and labor (human capital) income. When the government faces no borrowing constraints and is able to commit to a given set of present and future taxes, it is shown that the optimal tax plan involves high taxation of both capital and labor in the short run. This allows the government to accumulate sufficient assets to finance spending without any recourse to distortionary taxation in the long run. When restrictions to government borrowing and lending are imposed, the model implies that human and physical capital should be taxed similarly.

Increased interest in providing business tax cuts to stimulate the economy has followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which heightened concerns about an economic slowdown. Among the tax proposals discussed were a corporate rate cut and an investment subsidy; the final version of H.R. 3090 enacted in March 2002 contained the latter: temporary partial expensing for equipment. Interest in this issue continues, including proposals by President Bush for reductions in taxes on corporations through dividend relief. Some economists suggest that additional fiscal stimulus is not needed; others also doubt the efficacy of fiscal policy in general, especially in an open economy and given the difficulties of achieving proper timing. Also, deficit financing of a tax cut has potential negative long run effects because it crowds out investment; a stimulus designed to increase investment spending (rather than consumption spending) would, if successful, reduce that negative effect. Investment subsidies had largely been abandoned as counter-cyclical devices over the last two decades, in part because of lack of evidence from statistical studies relating investment spending to the cost of capital. However, the empirical studies were subject to a number of serious flaws. More recent empirical evidence has found some larger effects, at least with some studies, although not enough to suggest that all of the tax cut is spent (especially with corporate rate reductions). Moreover, the average behavioral response identified in these studies may be larger than responses during a downturn when many firms have excess capacities, and planning lags may make investment responses poorly timed. An investment subsidy has more "bang-for-the-buck" than a corporate rate cut, since the latter benefits existing as well as new capital. A corporate rate cut is estimated to produce between one-third and two-thirds of the investment induced by an investment credit with an equivalent revenue loss. The most common type of investment subsidy is the investment credit, although the same effect could be achieved with accelerated depreciation or partial expensing. A temporary investment credit would be more effective than a permanent one, and a temporary investment credit could also be made incremental. (It is not really possible to structure a permanent incremental credit.) One disadvantage of a permanent investment credit is that it distorts the allocation of investment and can easily produce negative tax rates, particularly with current lower tax rates and lower inflation. A 10% investment credit would produce negative tax rates in excess of 100% for short lived assets. Arguments have been for a corporate tax rate cut because of estimated large effects on the stock market. These stock market calculations are overstated because they do not take into account the adjustment process and the possibility of interest rate increases. Given the uncertainty about the size of stock market effects or their beneficial effect on the economy, there is a case for not considering stock market effects an important factor in choosing an investment subsidy. Indeed one could argue that the prospect of future tax cuts are causing the stock market values to decrease by increasing future interest rates (and also discouraging investment for the same reason). This report will be updated to reflect major legislative developments.

In both the UK and USA economies the budget deficit remains a central weakness. In the light of this problem this book presents a consistent economic framework for analysing the effects and implications of large bond-financed deficits.