The local business tax as the main revenue source of local governments in Germany has been under extensive debate for decades. Proposals for reform range from a broad tax base in the sense of an origin-based value-added tax to a pure profit tax that could be implemented as a surcharge on...

In vielen Ländern gibt es kommunale Unternehmensteuern, in Deutschland hat die Gewerbesteuer ein großes Gewicht bei der Gemeindefinanzierung. Wenn solche kommunalen Unternehmensteuern erhoben werden, gibt es keinen steuer- und wirtschaftspolitischen Grund für eine Differenzierung zwischen...

The employer`s payroll contribution for pension system relief has been one of the most important topic on the debate about social security. Some advocates that the traditional source of funds for pension system tends to undergo a process of erosion.And there are critics, who argue that there is...

The article considers reform options for the German local business tax.

The article discusses replacing the German local business tax by an income or corporate tax surcharge.

Zur Gewerbesteuer gibt es eine Reihe von Reformvorschlägen, die von einer reinen Gewinnsteuer bis zu einer Wertschöpfungsteuer reichen. Entsprechende Besteuerungskonzepte sind auch im Ausland anzutreffen. Analysen mit dem Unternehmensteuer- Mikrosimulationsmodell BizTax des DIW Berlin zeigen...

Summary The theory of fiscal federalism argues that local governments should only tax mobile tax bases for the purpose of charging user taxes which correct for congestion effects. Empirically, we observe that local governments do levy taxes on mobile bases. In Germany, this is the local business...

The paper empirically analyzes the incentive effects of equalizing transfers on business tax policy by exploiting a natural experiment in the state of Lower Saxony which changed its equalization formula as of 1999. We resort to within-state and across-state difference-indifference estimates to...

This paper examines the effects of agglomeration economies (AE) on the sensitivity of firm location to tax differentials. An initial reading of the story suggests that, with AE, when a firm moves into a community attracted by a tax reduction, other firms may decide to move in as well. This...