Transition Strategies in Fundamental Tax Reform

This paper discusses alternative transition strategies of moving towards an S-base cash-flow business tax. While the tax has attractive neutrality properties, moving from the current situation towards the new system often involves a stark trade-off between short-run losses and long-run gains. We evaluate several alternative transition strategies. The preferred strategy consists of instantaneous implementation, an 80% devaluation of historical tax depreciation claims, and transitory deficit financing for intertemporal tax smoothing. This policy prevents windfall gains or losses on old capital, avoids a negative impact on labor market performance and thereby prevents short-run income losses. Simulations with a calibrated model for Germany indicate that this transition policy induces strong investment driven growth and yields a 7% gain in GDP per capita and a reduction in the unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points in the long-run.