Replication data for: Sales Taxes and Internet Commerce

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Liran Einav; Dan Knoepfle; Jonathan Levin; Neel Sundaresan

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Makevars	text/plain	183 bytes	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
Makevars.win	text/plain	218 bytes	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseGroupObject.cpp	text/x-c	3.6 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseGroupObject.h	text/x-c++	1.8 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseGroupsVector.cpp	text/x-c	5.7 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseGroupsVector.h	text/x-c++	991 bytes	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseObject.cpp	text/x-c	3 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
PanelSparseObject.h	text/x-c++	1.3 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
arithmetic_ansi.h	text/x-c	3.3 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM
arithmetic_sse_double.h	text/x-c	8.6 KB	10/11/2019 05:30:PM

Project Description

Summary: We estimate the sensitivity of Internet retail purchasing to sales taxes using eBay data. Our first approach exploits the fact that a seller's location—and therefore the applicable tax rate—is revealed only after a buyer has expressed interest in an item. We document how adverse tax "surprises" reduce the likelihood of purchase and shift subsequent purchases toward out-of-state sellers. We then use more aggregated data to estimate that every one percentage point increase in a state's sales tax increases online purchases by state residents by almost 2 percent, while decreasing their online purchases from state retailers by 3–4 percent.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      H71 State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
      L81 Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
      L86 Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-11]

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