State Taxes and Spatial Misallocation

Pablo Fajgelbaum (), Eduardo Morales, Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato and Owen Zidar

The Review of Economic Studies, 2019, vol. 86, issue 1, 333-376

Abstract: We study state taxes as a potential source of spatial misallocation in the U.S.. We build a spatial general equilibrium framework that incorporates salient features of the U.S. state tax system, and use changes in state tax rates between 1980 and 2010 to estimate the model parameters that determine how worker and firm location respond to changes in state taxes. We find that heterogeneity in state tax rates leads to aggregate welfare losses. In terms of consumption equivalent units, harmonizing state taxes increases worker welfare by 0.6% if government spending is held constant, and by 1.2% if government spending responds endogenously. Harmonization of state taxes within Census regions achieves most of these gains. We also use our model to study the general equilibrium effects of recently implemented and proposed tax reforms.

Keywords: State Taxes; Monopolistic Competition; Economic Geography; Misallocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F12 H71 H73 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (65)

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Related works:
Working Paper: State Taxes and Spatial Misallocation (2015)
Working Paper: State Taxes and Spatial Misallocation (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:restud:v:86:y:2019:i:1:p:333-376.

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