Inflation, Tax Rules and the Accumulation of Residential and Nonresidential Capital

Inflation, Tax Rules and the Accumulation of Residential and Nonresidential Capital
Author: Martin S. Feldstein
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 1981
Genre: Inflation
ISBN:

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The present paper analyses the effect of the interaction between tax rules and inflation on the size and allocation of the capital stock with particular emphasis on the role of owner-occupied housing. The analysis is developed in the framework of an economy that is in equilibrium and in which a constant fraction of disposable income is saved. In this model, I show that, with current U.S. tax laws, an increase in the rate of inflation reduces the equilibrium amount of business capital employed in the economy and raises the amount of housing capital. The analysis also shows that a higher rate of inflation lowers the real net-of-tax rate of return to the provider of business capital. In a richer model than the current one, i.e., in a model in which the rate of personal saving was an increasing function of the net rate of return, a higher inflation rate would therefore lower the rate of saving. The present analysis also shows that permitting firms to depreciate investments more rapidly for tax purposes increases the accumulations of business capital but that, unless firms are permitted to expense all in- vestment immediately, an increase in in£ lat ion continues to depress the accumulation of business capital.

The Allocation of Capital Between Residential and Nonresidential Uses

The Allocation of Capital Between Residential and Nonresidential Uses
Author: Patric H. Hendershott
Publisher:
Total Pages: 54
Release: 1981
Genre: Capital
ISBN:

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We have constructed a simple two-sector model of the demand for housing and corporate capital. An increase in the inflation rate, with and with- out an increase in the risk premium on equities, was then simulated with a number of model variants. The model and simulation experiments illustrate both the tax bias in favor of housing (its initial average real user cost was 3 percentage points less than that for corporate capital) and the manner in which inflation magnifies it (the difference rises to 5 percentage points without an exogenous increase in real house prices and 4 percentage points with an exogenous increase). The existence of a capital-market constraint offsets the increase in the bias against corporate capital, but it introduces a sharp, inefficient reallocation of housing from less wealthy, constrained households to wealthy households who do not have gains on mortgages and are not financially const rained. Widespread usage of innovative housing finance instruments would overcome this reallocation but at the expense of corporate capital. Only a reduction in inflation or in the taxation of income from business capital will solve the problem of inefficient allocation of capital. The simulation results are also able to provide an explanation for the failure of nominal interest rates to rise by a multiple of an increase in the inflation rate in a world with taxes. When the inflation rate alone was increased, the ratio of the increases in the risk-free and inflation rates was 1.32. An increase in the risk premium on equities, in conjunction with the increase in inflation, lowered the simulated ratio to 1.10, introduction of a supply price elasticity of 4 and an exogenous increase in the real house price reduced the ratio to 1.03, and incorporation of the credit-market. constraint reduced the ratio to 0.95.

Inflation, Capital Taxation, and Monetary Policy

Inflation, Capital Taxation, and Monetary Policy
Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1985
Genre:
ISBN:

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This paper discusses the effects of the interaction between inflation and the taxation of capital income. The principal conclusions are: (1) Inflation substantially increases the total effective tax rate on the income from capital used in the nonfinancial corporate sector. The total effective tax rate has risen from less than 60 percent in the mid-1960's to more than 70 percent in the late 1970's. (2) The higher effective tax rate reduces the real net rate of return to those who provide investment capital. In the late 19701s, the real net rate of return averaged less than three percent. (3) The interact ion between inflation and existing tax rules contributed to the fall in the ratio of share prices to real pretax earnings, or, equivalently, to the rise in the real cost to the firm of equity capital. (4) By reducing the real net return to investors and by widening the gap between the firms' cost of funds and the maximum return that they can afford to pay, the interaction between tax rates and inflation has depressed the rate of net investment in business fixed capital. (5) The failure to consider correctly the effects of the fiscal structure has caused observers to underestimate the expansionary character of monetary policy in the past two decades. (6) The goal of increasing investment while maintaining price stability can be achieved with tight money, a high real interest rate, and tax incentives for investment. A high real net-of-tax interest rate could reduce residential investment and other forms of consumer spending while the tax incentives offset the monetary effect for investment in business capital

The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation

The Effects of Taxation on Capital Accumulation
Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 501
Release: 2009-05-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226241785

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Research on capital formation has long been a major focus of studies sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research because of the crucial role of capital accumulation in the process of economic growth. The papers in this volume examine the influence of taxes on capital formation, with specific focus on the determinants of saving and the process of investment in plant and equipment.

The Effects of Tax Rules on Nonresidential Fixed Investment

The Effects of Tax Rules on Nonresidential Fixed Investment
Author: Joosung Jun
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1989
Genre:
ISBN:

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The evidence presented in this study confirms that tax-induced changes in the profitability of investment have had a powerful effect on the share of GNP devoted to nonresidential fixed investment. More specifically, we have reestimated two models of aggregate investment initially presented in Feldstein, "Inflation, Tax Rules and Investment: Some Econometric Evidence, "(Econometrica, 1982). The present study extends the previous analysis byusing revised national income accounts, by improving the estimation of the effective tax rate and the profitability of new investments, and by extending the sample to include the years 1978 through 1984. Despite these changes, the new statistical estimates are remarkably close to the previous results. The statistical estimates are also very robust with respect to sample period, estimation method, and the presence of other variables.The first model relates the investment-GNP ratio to the real net-of-tax rate of return received by the providers of debt and equity capital to the nonfinancial corporate sector and to the rate of capacity utilization. Our estimates imply that each percentage point increase in the real net return raises the investment-GNP ratio by 0.4 percentage points. A one percent age point increase in the net return is equivalent to a ten percentage point reduction in the overall effective tax rate. Since the net nonresidential fixed investment averaged 3 percent of GNP during the past three decades, a ten percentage point tax reduction induces a 13 percent rise in the investment-GNP ratio.Our second model relates the investment-GNP ratio to the difference between the maximum potential net return that firms can support by investing in a "standard investment project" and the net cost of debt and equity capital. The statistical estimates imply that each percentage point change in this measure of the rate of return over cost raises the investment-GNP ratio by 0.3 percentage points or 10 percent of its three-decade average.The estimates imply that t

Inflation, Tax Rules, and Capital Formation

Inflation, Tax Rules, and Capital Formation
Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2009-05-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226241793

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Inflation, Tax Rules, and Capital Formation brings together fourteen papers that show the importance of the interaction between tax rules and monetary policy. Based on theoretical and empirical research, these papers emphasize the importance of including explicit specifications of the tax system in such study.

The Allocation of Capital Between Residential and Nonresidential Uses

The Allocation of Capital Between Residential and Nonresidential Uses
Author: Sheng Cheng Hu
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1983
Genre:
ISBN:

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We have constructed a simple two-sector model of the demand for housing and corporate capital. An increase in the inflation rate, with and with- out an increase in the risk premium on equities, was then simulated with a number of model variants. The model and simulation experiments illustrate both the tax bias in favor of housing (its initial average real user cost was 3 percentage points less than that for corporate capital) and the manner in which inflation magnifies it (the difference rises to 5 percentage points without an exogenous increase in real house prices and 4 percentage points with an exogenous increase). The existence of a capital-market constraint offsets the increase in the bias against corporate capital, but it introduces a sharp, inefficient reallocation of housing from less wealthy, constrained households to wealthy households who do not have gains on mortgages and are not financially const rained. Widespread usage of innovative housing finance instruments would overcome this reallocation but at the expense of corporate capital. Only a reduction in inflation or in the taxation of income from business capital will solve the problem of inefficient allocation of capital. The simulation results are also able to provide an explanation for the failure of nominal interest rates to rise by a multiple of an increase in the inflation rate in a world with taxes. When the inflation rate alone was increased, the ratio of the increases in the risk-free and inflation rates was 1.32. An increase in the risk premium on equities, in conjunction with the increase in inflation, lowered the simulated ratio to 1.10, introduction of a supply price elasticity of 4 and an exogenous increase in the real house price reduced the ratio to 1.03, and incorporation of the credit-market. constraint reduced the ratio to 0.95