R&D tax incentives versus international tax competition – spatial analysis

Abstract

Purpose – To examine the existence and strength of the relationship between international tax competition and tax treatment of R&D in spatial analysis. Research method – The research hypothesis implies that the increase in the strength of business ties between economies takes place simultaneously with the disappearance of the differences in the tax treatment of R&D activities. As a measure of spatial differentiation, the trade cooperation indicator was adopted. Meanwhile, as a measure of the disproportions in the tax treatment of R&D, it was assumed that a difference exists in the amount of the B index. The occurrence of the relationship was verified based on the construction of the panel regression models for four scenarios, depending on the size and profitability of enterprises being the potential beneficiaries of tax incentives: large profitable and large unprofitable enterprises as well as profitable and unprofitable SMEs. Results – The analysis conducted enabled the Author to find the negative relationship between the variables in three out of the four scenarios. Therefore, the research hypothesis was rejected. Originality /value – An approach to spatial analysis was employed where the indicator of business ties rather than a geographical indicator was adopted as the key measure of spatial differentiation.