Corporate Taxes and Union Wages in the United States / R. Alison Felix, James R. Hines, Jr..

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Felix, R. Alison.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hines, James R, Jr.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15263.

NBER working paper series no. w15263

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

This paper evaluates the effect of U.S. state corporate income taxes on union wages. American workers who belong to unions are paid more than their non-union counterparts, and this difference is greater in low-tax locations, reflecting that unions and employers share tax savings associated with low tax rates. In 2000 the difference between average union and non-union hourly wages was $1.88 greater in states with corporate tax rates below four percent than in states with tax rates of nine percent and above. Controlling for observable worker characteristics, a one percent lower state tax rate is associated with a 0.36 percent higher union wage premium, suggesting that workers in a fully unionized firm capture roughly 54 percent of the benefits of low tax rates.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2009.