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Heterogeneous Firms, "Profit Shifting" FDI and International Tax Competition

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Abstract
Larger firms are more likely to use tax haven operations to exploit international tax differences. We study a tax game between a large country and a tax haven modeling heterogenous monopolistic firms, which can shift profits abroad. We shows that a higher degree of firm heterogeneity (a mean-preserving spread of the cost distribution) increases the degree of tax competition, i.e. it decreases the equilibrium tax rate of the large country, leads to higher outflows of its tax base and thus decreases its equilibrium tax revenue. Similar effects hold for a higher substitutability across varieties. We find that models with homogeneous firms understate the strenght of tax competition

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Krautheim & Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr, 2009. "Heterogeneous Firms, "Profit Shifting" FDI and International Tax Competition," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 09073, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    • Handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:09073
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Heterogenous firms; tax competition; profit shifting; tax havens;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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