Fiscal Zoning and Sales Taxes: Do Higher Sales Taxes Lead to More Retailing and Less Manufacturing? / Daria Burnes, David Neumark, Michelle J. White.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burnes, Daria.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Neumark, David.

White, Michelle J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16932.

NBER working paper series no. w16932

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Fiscal Zoning and Sales Taxes

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

We test the hypothesis that local government officials in jurisdictions that have higher local sales taxes are more likely to use fiscal zoning to attract retailing. We find that total retail employment is not significantly affected by local sales tax rates, but employment in big box and anchor stores is significantly increased in jurisdictions where sales tax rates increase. We also find that manufacturing employment is significantly lowered in these jurisdictions. These results suggest that local officials in jurisdictions with higher sales tax rates concentrate on attracting large stores and shopping centers and that their efforts crowd out manufacturing. A rise of one percentage point in a county-level local sales tax rate is predicted to result in 258 additional retail jobs and the loss of 838 manufacturing jobs.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2011.