Tax policy and entrepreneurship: Empirical evidence from Sweden
Author
Summary, in English
This paper examines the relationship between income taxes and the decision to become self-employed using data from Sweden. By making it possible to track a large number of individuals over extended time periods and across a number of tax rate changes while controlling for important additional determinants, available tax-return information from Sweden allows for statistical estimation of the influence income taxes have on the probability of becoming self-employed. The changing tax rate structure combined with the fact that the Swedish tax system does not provide additional tax benefits to small business-entrepreneurs compared with those who work as employees, provides a powerful setting through which to examine the tax-rate structure’s influence on individuals’ choice to become self-employed. Contrary to many earlier studies based on US data, this paper finds that both average and marginal taxes have a negative impact on the decision to become self-employed.
Department/s
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Pages
495-513
Publication/Series
Small Business Economics
Volume
38
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Economics
- Engineering and Technology
Keywords
- tax policy
- Firm start-ups
- self-employment
- income taxes
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0921-898X