The Disappearing State Corporate Income Tax (original) (raw)

The State Corporate Income Tax: Recent Trends for a Troubled Tax

The state corporate income tax (CIT) has been declining for years. This paper examines the trends in state CIT revenue between 1980 and 2000. The authors construct a state corporate tax performance index and find that between 1980 and 1995 the problems with the state CIT mirrored those faced by federal corporate taxes. But in the period 1995-2000, serious independent problems developed with the state tax. The paper finds that the failure to require combined reporting and the use of single factor apportionment can have negative effects on state The state corporate income tax produces a relatively small amount of revenue for state governments. Indeed, the states currently raise about five percent of their total tax revenue from corporate income taxes, and corporate tax receipts have declined steadily as a percentage of total state tax revenue over time. Most observers agree that, under the current system, the percentage

Empirical Evidence on the Revenue Effects of State Corporate Income Tax Policies

National Tax Journal, 2009

Using aggregate state-level data from 1982 to 2002, we find SCIT revenues are increasing in the sales factor weight in the apportionment formula and in the use of basebroadening accounting policies such as the throwback rule and unitary/combined reporting and decreasing in the deductibility of federal income taxes. Together, accounting policies explain about 19% of the predicted change in long-term SCIT revenues when accounting policies are measured contemporaneously and about 13% when measured with one-year lagged values. These results, which suggest that macroeconomic and other factors largely beyond the control of policymakers play an even more important role than the accounting policies, call into question the frequent use of the state corporate income tax as an instrument of economic policy and its use by states as a vehicle for competition against each other.

New Normal? The Declining Relative Importance of State Taxes

2019

The Great Recession’s substantial effect on state revenue has been well documented. State tax revenue decreased: By 2017, state tax revenue as a percentage of income was just 5.79 percent, which is 9 percent less than in 2007 and 4.66 percent less than in 2013. An obvious question is, why has state tax revenue as a percentage of income not returned to its pre-Great Recession level? There are two potential reasons: Either economic growth has not increased the tax base sufficiently or policymakers have not raised taxes sufficiently. This paper explores this question and whether the post-2008 period could be a “new normal.” I first discuss the trend in total state taxes as a percentage of income. I then discuss four specific taxes to provide a framework for discussing policy decisions.

On the Extent, Growth, and Efficiency Consequences of State Business Tax Planning

Taxing Corporate Income in the 21st Century

Our focus in this essay is on the extent to which tax planning in response to variations in state tax policy has affected state corporate income tax bases and revenues. Tax planning is defined as a broad set of actions undertaken by firms to reduce their tax liability. Financial or accounting tax planning is contrasted with what we refer to as locational distortions, in which firms move physical operations to avoid higher tax liabilities. Results from a fixed effects instrumental variables regression model using a 1985-2001 panel of state-level data provide highly suggestive evidence that tax planning activity significantly diminishes taxable corporate profits in high tax states. Specifically, we find that state corporate income tax bases decline by nearly 7 percent following a onepercentage-point increase in the top marginal corporate income tax rate, controlling for locational distortions. We also find that throwback rules are usually ineffective in restoring corporate income tax bases while combined reporting requirements are often effective. Further analysis indicates that tax planning has not diminished the locational distortions of tax policy.

On the Political Economy of State Corporate Tax Reforms in the U.S

Research in Applied Economics, 2019

This paper discusses the political economy of U.S. state corporate tax reforms. Using a unique dataset of state effective corporate tax rates over the period 1969-2015, I observe that business tax changes are associated with tax competition, swings in economic cycles, and left-right political ideology. In contrast, long-term debt and budgetary pressures do not correlate with state corporate tax policies. Moreover, I document a regional heterogeneity and notice a slowdown in state tax changes after the Federal Reform Act of 1986. These findings matter for the empirics of corporate tax incidence, which is increasingly concerned with the endogeneity between tax reforms and other economic developments.

Are State Corporate Income Tax Rates Too High? A Panel Study of Statewide Laffer Curves

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

This paper estimates the impact of corporate income tax rates on corporate tax revenue at the state level over the period 1996-2007 to determine the existence and shape of a Laffer curve for state corporate income taxes. Standard theoretical constructs are used to characterize corporate income tax revenues as a quadratic function of the corporate tax rate. Empirical results using linear, log-log, and semi-log econometric models provide mixed support for the hypothesis of the existence of a state corporate income tax Laffer curve. To isolate the behavioral changes implicit in the Laffer curve theory, nonbehavioral factors that affect the tax base, such as state tax policies (revenue apportionment and throwback rules) and state spending policies (percentage of government revenues allocated to government infrastructure expenditures) are controlled. Results show the existence of a Laffer curve and that its revenue-maximizing rate has declined over time. The rates range from 8.52% to 9.32% for the time period 1996-2002 and 6.03% to 7.47% over the time period 2003-2007. These values indicate that 8 states were taxing on the right side of their Laffer curve in 2002, and 22 states were taxing on the right side of their Laffer curve in 2007. The policy implication is that these states could have experienced higher tax revenues with a lower tax rate.

What do we know about taxes and state economic development? A replication and extension of five key studies

2006

DATA SOURCES: Individual years of Unemployment rate electronically provided from the BLS for 1991-1976 (some of the larger states go back to 1970)(contact person at BLS: Yvonne Terwilliger). Missing data back to 1970 was filled in with unemployment rate data from Professor Alicia Munnell (Boston College). No data could be found prior to 1970. The UNEMPLOYMENT variable used in replication is the average value for 1970-1991 (not 1960-1991).

Understanding Uniformity and Diversity in State Corporate Income Taxes

National Tax Journal, 2008

This article describes generic forces creating uniformity and diversity in state corporate income taxes, examines several episodes in the evolution of these taxes to determine how uniformity-or the lack thereof-came about, and discusses whether the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act is likely to be revised to make it more sensible and more comprehensive. The episodes examined involve the defi nition of income, the choice of methods of dividing income among the states, jurisdiction to tax, apportionment formulas, and combination of the activities of related entities. The article does not discuss harmonization of tax rates.