| This thesis analyzes the effects that different taxation policies have on per-capita GDP by running a series of panel data regressions on 40 years of economic data from 30 OECD countries. Factors such as trade openness, labor productivity, inflation volatility, gross fixed capital formation and the nominal tax burden are included in the models along with data about tax revenue collected by each country from income, property, and consumption taxes. A preliminary model comparing income taxes to property and consumption taxes shows that property and consumption taxes are associated with a significantly larger positive coefficient for GDP per capita than income taxes. A series of models which desegregates the tax categories further finds that net wealth taxes such as recurrent taxes on net wealth; estate, inheritance and gift taxes; taxes on financial and capital transactions; and other non-recurrent property taxes are associated with the highest increase in GDP per-capita when all other tax variables are held constant. |
