Tax Incentives and Investment in the Eastern Caribbean

Author/Editor:

Sebastian Sosa

Publication Date:

January 1, 2006

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

Tax incentives have been used extensively in the countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) to promote investment. The associated revenue losses are large, and benefits in terms of new investment have been limited, raising doubts about the cost effectiveness of the tax incentive schemes. This paper examines the effects of incentives using the marginal effective tax rate approach (METR), adapting this methodology to the case of a small open economy where the marginal investor is a nonresident. The results show that METRs are high in the region; that there is a large dispersion in the size of METRs across financing source; and that METRs on investment are larger than the overall distortion on capital, with a substantial subsidy to domestic saving. In the presence of tax holidays-the most common incentive scheme in the region-the distortion on capital basically vanishes.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2006/023

Subject:

Consumption taxes Marginal effective tax rate Stocks Tax holidays Tax incentives

English

Publication Date:

January 1, 2006

ISBN/ISSN:

9781451862836/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2006023

Pages:

29

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