Determinants of tax rates in the local level : the case of the ISS in the state of São Paulo

• Ano de defesa: 2016
• Autor(a) principal: Cavalcante, Elias Celestino
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Econometria; Econometrics; Finanças públicas; Governo municipal; Impostos; Local government; Public Finance; Taxes
• Link de acesso: http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12138/tde-21092016-163036/

According to the survey Profile of Brazilian municipalities (2012) from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), around 63\\% of the municipalities in Brazil made use of \"mechanisms to attract companies\". Localities offer benefits to the companies with the interest of receiving future gains from the increase in economic activity. Among these mechanisms is the tax on services (ISS), which affects directly the services companies. In this context, this study aims to analyze the main determinants of the tax rates set by municipalities, including the interaction with neighbors municipalities in the tax setting. Using a database of São Paulo state municipalities, a tax decision equation is estimated, making use of some Spatial Econometrics methods. Moreover, to add robustness to the results, the choice of the best spatial weights matrices is made by a comparison of log-likelihoods. Finally, a Tobit model is estimated, extending the model of tax decision to incorporate the institutional arrangements that limit the range of the tax rate set by municipalities. The results achieved indicate that the characteristics of neighboring municipalities have a significant influence in the local tax rate setting, and also the estimation indicates the presence of interaction among the localities in the tax rates setting for some groups of service