Do consumers pay the corporate tax?

Using granular gas price data and rich variation in corporate tax rates, we find that corporate taxes increase consumer prices. About 64% of the corporate tax is borne by consumers. The effect is stronger when firms have limited access to tax planning opportunities, face stricter tax enforcement, or...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Jacob, M. (Martin)|||/items/b4c80971-c877-4230-904c-54573540e482, Müller, M.A. (Maximilian A.)|||/items/57f6157d-c3aa-4f81-8480-14c45979d665, Wulff, T. (Thorben)|||/items/d872fe8b-22de-42e1-a38b-6e97e86a88a6
Format: article
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Navarra
Repository:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/119255
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/119255
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Corporate tax
Tax enforcement
Tax incidence
Tax planning
Tax policy
Description
Summary:Using granular gas price data and rich variation in corporate tax rates, we find that corporate taxes increase consumer prices. About 64% of the corporate tax is borne by consumers. The effect is stronger when firms have limited access to tax planning opportunities, face stricter tax enforcement, or when consumer demand is less elastic. Taxes also reduce the number of firms and their scale, consistent with a tax-induced increase in marginal cost. Our results suggest that tax policies that increase effective corporate tax rates may have unintended consequences for consumers through higher prices.