The Incidence and Distributional Effects of the Corporate Income Tax: The Role of Rent Sharing

Standard analysis of corporate income taxation assumes shareholders bear the burden of taxes on rents. But recent research finds that firms share rents with workers, implying that workers bear some of the burden. Using the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center microsimulation model, we show that rent sharing has significant implications for understanding corporate taxes. Allowing for rent sharing shifts the incidence of the tax, placing more burden on labor, but the progressivity implications depend crucially on which workers obtain rents. In the United States, where rents are shared disproportionately with high-income workers, the tax remains approximately as progressive as under standard assumptions.