Do Temporary Business Tax Cuts Matter? A General Equilibrium Analysis

No 2019/029, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model to assess the effects of temporary business tax cuts. First, the analysis extends the Ricardian equivalence result to an environment with production and establishes that a temporary tax cut financed by a future tax-increase has no real effect if the tax is lump-sum and capital markets are perfect. Second, it shows that in the presence of financing frictions which raise the cost of investment, the policy temporarily relaxes the financing constraint thereby reducing the marginal cost of investment. This direct effect implies positive marginal propensities to invest out of tax cuts. Third, when the tax is distortionary, the expectation of high future tax rates reduces the expected marginal return on investment mitigating the direct stimulative effects.

Keywords: WP; proportional tax; Ricardian Equivalence; Corporate Tax Policy; Financing Friction; General Equilibrium; dividend constraint; equity issuance; dividend payment; irrelevance theorem; proportional tax tax rate; net investment effect; investment effect; dividend policy irrelevance theorem; firm investment; investment equation; financing constraint; financing decision; Stocks; Corporate income tax; Return on investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39
Date: 2019-02-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge and nep-pbe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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