The Elusive Incidence of the Corporate Income Tax: The State Case

A recurring theme in the literature on taxation has been uncertainty about the incidence of the corporate income tax. The answer may be even more elusive for state taxes than for federal taxes. As seen by one state, a cor- porate income tax levied on the basis of formula apportionment of total income is a composite of taxes levied on whatever factors enter the state's apportion- ment formula. Such a tax is likely to be borne primarily by residents of the taxing state, as consumers, immobile workers, and owners of land and immobile capital. Substantial shifting to consumers or capitalists throughout the nation is unlikely.