Tax Incentive Provisions And The User Cost Of Capital: The Case Of Greece

Abstract

According to the neoclassical framework the quantitative influence of tax policy measures on capital spending is exercised through the parameters that define the desired stock of capital and more specifically through the user cost determinant (c). A tax-adjusted user cost expression is formulated and time series of user cost are calculated using the usual tax parameters (like depreciation allowances, tax credits, investment grants, investment allowances and the like) that are incorporated in the value of c and which have been taken from the Greek tax incentive structure. The test of fiscal parameters on investment was made for the two kinds of capital assets, equipment and structures, since expenditure on these two comprise on average an almost 85 per cent of total manufacturing investment in Greece. What the research showed for the period under investigation was that c, the cost of capital variable, was not affected much by tax provisions, and in its turn could not affect decisively the desired level of capital stock and thus the amount of net investment.(JEL: E62)