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The Incidence of the Corporate Income Tax on Wages: Evidence from Canadian Provinces

Author

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  • Kenneth J. McKenzie

    (Department of Economics and School of Public Policy, University of Calgary)

  • Ergete Ferede

    (Department of Economics, Grant MacEwan University)

Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of the corporate income tax (CIT) on wages using panel data for Canadian provinces. We find that the CIT has a statistically significant negative effect on wages through its adverse impact on the capital/labour ratio. The empirical results suggest that workers bear a significant part of the corporate tax in the form of lower wages. Under the standard assumption that the CIT base is unresponsive to changes in the tax rate, our estimates suggest that the reduction in aggregate wages associated with a $1 increase in provincial corporate tax revenue due to an increase in the statutory CIT rate ranges from 95 Canadian cents for Newfoundland and Labrador to C$1.74 for New Brunswick. Under the more reasonable assumption that the CIT base shrinks in response to an increase in the tax rate, the estimates range from C$1.52 for Alberta to C$3.85 for Prince Edward Island. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth J. McKenzie & Ergete Ferede, 2017. "The Incidence of the Corporate Income Tax on Wages: Evidence from Canadian Provinces," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 10(7), April.
    • Handle: RePEc:clh:resear:v:10:y:2017:i:7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nadja Dwenger & Pia Rattenhuber & Viktor Steiner, 2019. "Sharing the Burden? Empirical Evidence on Corporate Tax Incidence," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 107-140, November.
    2. aus dem Moore, Nils, 2014. "Shifting the Burden of Corporate Taxes: Heterogeneity in Direct Wage Incidence," Ruhr Economic Papers 531, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Arulampalam, Wiji & Devereux, Michael P. & Maffini, Giorgia, 2012. "The direct incidence of corporate income tax on wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1038-1054.
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    7. Fuest, Clemens & Peichl, Andreas & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "Do Higher Corporate Taxes Reduce Wages?," IZA Discussion Papers 9606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Nadine Riedel, 2011. "Taxing multi-nationals under union wage bargaining," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 399-421, August.
    9. Gravelle, Jennifer, 2013. "Corporate Tax Incidence: Review of General Equilibrium Estimates and Analysis," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 185-214, March.
    10. Mutti, John & Grubert, Harry, 1985. "The taxation of capital income in an open economy: the importance of resident-nonresident tax treatment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 291-309, August.
    11. Alison Felix, 2007. "Passing the burden: corporate tax incidence in open economies," Regional Research Working Paper RRWP 07-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
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    13. R. Alison Felix, 2007. "Passing the Burden: Corporate Tax Incidence in Open Economies," LIS Working papers 468, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    14. Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2012. "The effects of tax rate changes on tax bases and the marginal cost of public funds for Canadian provincial governments," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(6), pages 844-883, December.
    15. Clausing, Kimberly A., 2013. "Who Pays the Corporate Tax in a Global Economy?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 151-184, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Knaisch, Jonas & Pöschel, Carla, 2021. "Corporate Tax Incidence and Wages: A Meta-Regression Analysis," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 262, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre, revised 2021.
    2. Yamazaki, Akio, 2022. "Environmental taxes and productivity: Lessons from Canadian manufacturing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Kenneth J. McKenzie & Ergete Ferede, 2017. "Who Pays the Corporate Tax?: Insights from the Literature and Evidence for Canadian Provinces," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 10(6), April.
    4. Ferede, Ergete & Dahlby, Bev, 2019. "The Effect of Corporate Income Tax on the Economic Growth Rates of the Canadian Provinces," SPP Technical Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 12(29), September.
    5. Dedola, Luca & Osbat, Chiara & Reinelt, Timo, 2022. "Tax thy neighbour: Corporate tax pass-through into downstream consumer prices in a monetary union," Working Paper Series 2681, European Central Bank.
    6. Hernán Rincón-Castro & Martha Elena Delgado-Rojas, 2017. "¿Cuánto tributan efectivamente el consumo, el trabajo y el capital en Colombia?," Coyuntura Económica, Fedesarrollo, vol. 47(1 y 2), pages 97-135, December.
    7. Hernán Rincón-Castro & Juan Pablo Ángel-Mojica, 2023. "¿Sobre quién recaería la carga de reducir el impuesto sobre la renta de las empresas?," Borradores de Economia 1260, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    8. Younes Ahmadi & Akio Yamazaki & Philippe Kabore, 2022. "How Do Carbon Taxes Affect Emissions? Plant-Level Evidence from Manufacturing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(2), pages 285-325, June.

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