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SKATT-Skatteøkonomi

Corporate and Capital Taxation

Awarded: NOK 2.0 mill.

Project Number:

187394

Application Type:

Project Period:

2008 - 2010

Funding received from:

Subject Fields:

The aim of this project is to undertake theoretical and empirical research on capital taxation. The research group wants to undertake studies along two dimensions. A set of theoretical studies aims at solving some puzzles in international capital taxati on that are not in line with the tax competition literature. In 2004, for example, the corporate tax rate was only 86 % of the wage tax rate for an average worker in Norway, but 171% of the wage tax rate in the United States. Preferences for redistributio n (more prominent in Norway) should indicate the opposite mix. This research project will therefore focus on the effects that country-specific variables have on the mix of wage and profit taxation under conditions of capital market integration and test th e hypotheses that follow using OECD data that the group has access to. The second part of the project wants to focus on political institutions and the behaviour of politicians (the Leviathan versus benevolence) in an open economy. It extends previous lit erature by modelling different motives of politicians of holding office. Finally, the project wants to identify the characteristics of a good tax system for a small open economy, taking into account the trade-off between efficiency and equity. This part of the project will be in the form of a survey article in Norwegian to a broad audience.

Funding scheme:

SKATT-Skatteøkonomi