Iowa Individual Income Tax School District Report, Tax Year 2004

Iowa School District Surtax Report 2004

Iowa Individual Income Tax School District Report, Tax Year 2005

Iowa School District Surtax Report 2005

Iowa Individual Income Annual Tax Statistical Report 1997

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 1997

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 1998

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 1998

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 1999

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 1999

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2000

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2000

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2001

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2001

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2002

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2002

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2003

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2003

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2004

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2004

Iowa Individual Income Tax Annual Statistical Report 2005

Iowa Individual Income Tax Statistical Report 2005

Do agglomeration economies reduce the sensitivity of firm location to tax differentials?

Low corporate taxes can help attract new firms. This is the main mechanism underpinning the standard 'race-to-the-bottom'view of tax competition. A recent theoretical literature has qualified this view by formalizing the argument that agglomeration forces can reduce firms' sensitivity to tax differentials across locations. We test this proposition using data on firm startups across Swiss municipalities. We find that, on average, high corporate income taxes do deter new firms, but that this relationship is significantly weaker in the most spatially concentrated sectors. Location choices of firms in sectors with an agglomeration intensity at the twentieth percentile of the sample distribution are estimated to be twice as responsive to a given difference in local corporate tax burdens as firms in sectors with an agglomeration intensity at the eightieth percentile. Hence, our analysis confirms the theoretical prediction: agglomeration economies can neutralize the impact of tax differentials on firms' location choices.