Working Paper: NBER ID: w30352
Authors: Cailin R. Slattery; Alisa Tazhitdinova; Sarah Robinson
Abstract: To what extent is U.S. state tax policy affected by corporate political contributions? The 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling provides an exogenous shock to corporate campaign spending, allowing corporations to spend on elections in 23 states which previously had spending bans. Ten years after the ruling and for a wide range of outcomes, we are not able to identify economically or statistically significant effects of corporate independent expenditures on state tax policy, including tax rates, discretionary tax breaks, and tax revenues.
Keywords: corporate political spending; state tax policy; Citizens United; campaign contributions
JEL Codes: D72; H20; H71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Citizens United ruling (D72) | corporate political contributions (G38) |
| corporate political contributions (G38) | state tax rates (H71) |
| corporate political contributions (G38) | discretionary tax breaks (H20) |
| corporate political contributions (G38) | firm-specific tax incentives (H32) |
| corporate political contributions (G38) | overall tax revenues (H29) |