Do fiscal transfers alleviate business tax competition?: evidence from Germany

The paper empirically analyzes the incentive effects of equalizing transfers on business tax policy by exploiting a natural experiment in the state of Lower Saxony which changed its equalization formula as of 1999. We resort to within-state and across-state difference-indifference estimates to identify the reform effect on municipalities' business tax rates. Confirming the theoretical prediction, the reform had a significant impact on the municipalities' tax policy in the four years after the reform with a phasing out of the effect starting in the fourth to fifth year. The finding is robust to various alternative specifications.