Corporate tax enforcement and business activity

We examine the consequences of corporate tax enforcement for business activity. Using two different empirical approaches—a regional design and a firm-level design—we document that corporate tax enforcement is negatively associated with business activity, as measured by establishments and employment....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gallemore, J. (John)|||/items/ddc5fe08-f49a-44f1-8ee7-642c13fc94dc, Jacob, M. (Martin)|||/items/b4c80971-c877-4230-904c-54573540e482
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Navarra
Repositorio:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/116556
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/116556
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Corporate tax enforcement
Business activity
Local economies
Employment
Compliance costs
Descripción
Sumario:We examine the consequences of corporate tax enforcement for business activity. Using two different empirical approaches—a regional design and a firm-level design—we document that corporate tax enforcement is negatively associated with business activity, as measured by establishments and employment. This association is economically significant and is robust to tests that mitigate concerns regarding endogeneity and measurement. Furthermore, we find that the negative association between tax enforcement and business activity varies substantially in the cross-section. Specifically, we find that it is weaker for regions and firms with greater access to external financing sources and is stronger for regions and firms where compliance costs are likely higher and for which the ex ante costs of tax enforcement are greater. Our findings suggest that the effects of tax enforcement on business activity are economically important and heterogeneous, which should be of interest to academics and policymakers.