Partisanship, Tax Policy, and Corporate Profit-Shifting in a Globalized World Economy

Abstract

Political science scholarship has found mixed evidence on the impact of partisanship on the taxation of firms. In this article, I show that although left-leaning governments set tax rates at higher levels than right-leaning governments, the difference in the effective tax rates paid by firms is much less dramatic between left and right governments. I argue that left-leaning governments maintain high tax rates, a visible policy their constituency supports, while allowing firms to transfer profits abroad to minimize their tax burden (transfer pricing). Constituency costs hinder them from cutting tax rates to avoid backlash from voters, but they impose fewer restrictions on profit-shifting to attract investment by multinational firms for economic growth. Data covering 19 advanced economies between 2006 and 2009 support my theoretical expectation. My analyses suggest that the effect of government partisanship on corporate tax policy can be ambiguous when political parties consider various policy tools.