Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58755 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6383
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We test the hypothesis that local government officials in jurisdictions that have higher local sales taxes are more likely to use fiscal zoning to attract retailing. We find that total retail employment is not significantly affected by local sales tax rates, but employment in big box and anchor stores is higher significantly in jurisdictions with higher sales tax rates. This suggests that local officials in jurisdictions with higher sales tax rates concentrate on attracting large stores and shopping centers. We also find that the effect of local sales taxes on big box and anchor store retail employment is larger in county interiors, where residents tend to be captive to local retailers. Finally, fiscal zoning has the opposite effect on manufacturing employment, suggesting that local officials' efforts to attract shopping centers and large stores crowd out manufacturing.
Subjects: 
fiscal zoning
sales taxes
retail employment
manufacturing employment
JEL: 
R3
R5
J2
H2
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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