Personal Income Taxes and the Growth of Small Firms

35 Pages Posted: 11 Nov 2003 Last revised: 26 Oct 2022

See all articles by Robert Carroll

Robert Carroll

Office of Tax Analysis

Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Syracuse University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Mark Rider

Georgia State University - Department of Economics

Harvey S. Rosen

Princeton University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Date Written: October 2000

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurs' personal income tax situations on the growth rates of their enterprises. We analyze the personal income tax returns of a large number of sole proprietors before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and determine how the substantial reductions in marginal tax rates associated with that law affected the growth of their firms as measured by gross receipts. We find that individual income taxes exert a statistically and quantitatively significant influence on firm growth rates. Raising the sole proprietor's tax price (one minus the marginal tax rate) by 10 percent increases receipts by about 8.4 percent. This finding is consistent with the view that raising income tax rates discourages the growth of small businesses.

Suggested Citation

Carroll, Robert and Holtz-Eakin, Douglas and Rider, Mark and Rosen, Harvey S., Personal Income Taxes and the Growth of Small Firms (October 2000). NBER Working Paper No. w7980, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=246882

Robert Carroll

Office of Tax Analysis

Main Treasury Building
15th and Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20220
United States

Douglas Holtz-Eakin (Contact Author)

Syracuse University ( email )

900 S. Crouse Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2130
United States
315-443-3612 (Phone)
315-443-3717 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Mark Rider

Georgia State University - Department of Economics ( email )

35 Broad Street
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States

Harvey S. Rosen

Princeton University - Department of Economics ( email )

001 Fisher Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

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