The Elasticity of Taxable Income Across Countries

We use administrative tax data from 10 different countries to calculate the within-country corporate elasticity of taxable income and investigate differences between these estimates. Our estimates are based on common methodological tools and use differential tax treatment of business income for firms earning positive and negative taxable income. Our estimates account for differences in the business tax setting across countries through the use of covariates and semi-parametric modeling flexibility. These methods allow us to investigate whether differences in the estimated elasticity across countries are due to observable firm characteristics, such as asset size, or due to tax system differences, such as the availability of tax credits.