Relocation of the Rich: Migration in Response to Top Tax Rate Changes from Spanish Reforms

A-Tier
Journal: Review of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2019
Volume: 101
Issue: 2
Pages: 214-232

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

A Spanish reform granted regions the authority to set income tax rates, resulting in substantial tax differentials. Using administrative data, we find that conditional on moving, taxes have a significant effect on location choice. A 1% increase in the net-of-tax rate for a region relative to others increases the probability of moving to that region by 1.7 percentage points. We estimate an elasticity of the number of top taxpayers with respect to net-of-tax rates of 0.85. The mechanical increase in tax revenue due to higher tax rates is larger than the loss in tax revenue from the net outflow of migration.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:tpr:restat:v:101:y:2019:i:2:p:214-232
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24