IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v30y2023i5d10.1007_s10797-022-09762-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax incentives and firm financing structures: evidence from China’s accelerated depreciation policy

Author

Listed:
  • Jiayi Du

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Guangjun Shen

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Jingxian Zou

    (Renmin University of China)

Abstract

This study used China’s accelerated depreciation policy (2014–2015) as an exogenous shock to examine the impact of tax incentives on firm financing structures. Based on data from China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2017, we estimated a difference-in-differences model and found that the accelerated depreciation policy increased firms’ liability–asset ratio. Moreover, this rise was mainly seen in firms’ current liability–asset ratio (i.e., short-term leverage), while long-term leverage remained stable, which shortened firms’ debt maturity. The mechanism exploration showed that the accelerated depreciation policy stimulated fixed asset investment, and this investment increase was mainly financed by short-term debt, leading to greater maturity mismatch between firm assets and liabilities. Further heterogeneity analysis showed that the observed rise in short-term leverage was more serious among firms that were less likely to be allocated long-term credit from banks, including small-sized firms and those with a low share of tangible assets.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiayi Du & Guangjun Shen & Jingxian Zou, 2023. "Tax incentives and firm financing structures: evidence from China’s accelerated depreciation policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(5), pages 1346-1373, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:30:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s10797-022-09762-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-022-09762-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10797-022-09762-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10797-022-09762-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    2. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    3. Louis S. Jacobson & Robert J. LaLonde & Daniel G. Sullivan, 1993. "Long-term earnings losses of high-seniority displaced workers," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 17(Nov), pages 2-20.
    4. Nadja Dwenger & Viktor Steiner, 2014. "Financial leverage and corporate taxation: evidence from German corporate tax return data," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(1), pages 1-28, February.
    5. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Government Ownership of Banks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 265-301, February.
    6. Stephen A. Ross, 1977. "The Determination of Financial Structure: The Incentive-Signalling Approach," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(1), pages 23-40, Spring.
    7. Leland, Hayne E & Toft, Klaus Bjerre, 1996. "Optimal Capital Structure, Endogenous Bankruptcy, and the Term Structure of Credit Spreads," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(3), pages 987-1019, July.
    8. Robichek, Alexander A. & Myers, Stewart C., 1966. "Problems in the Theory of Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 1-35, June.
    9. Giorgia Maffini & Jing Xing & Michael P. Devereux, 2019. "The Impact of Investment Incentives: Evidence from UK Corporation Tax Returns," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 361-389, August.
    10. Yu, Jinliang & Qi, Yu, 2022. "BT-to-VAT reform and firm productivity: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Barclay, Michael J & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1995. "The Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 609-631, June.
    12. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    13. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2004. "Bank Competition and Access to Finance: International Evidence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(3), pages 627-648, June.
    14. Faccio, Mara & Xu, Jin, 2015. "Taxes and Capital Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 277-300, June.
    15. Cai, Jing & Harrison, Ann, 2011. "The value-added tax reform puzzle," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5788, The World Bank.
    16. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1795-1830_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Peng, Fei & Peng, Langchuan & Wang, Zheng, 2021. "How do VAT reforms in the service sectors impact TFP in the manufacturing sector: Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Zou, Jingxian & Shen, Guangjun & Gong, Yaxian, 2019. "The effect of value-added tax on leverage: Evidence from China’s value-added tax reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 135-146.
    19. Heider, Florian & Ljungqvist, Alexander, 2015. "As certain as debt and taxes: Estimating the tax sensitivity of leverage from state tax changes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 684-712.
    20. Givoly, Dan, et al, 1992. "Taxes and Capital Structure: Evidence from Firms' Response to the Tax Reform Act of 1986," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 331-355.
    21. Bing Xu & Adrian van Rixtel & Michiel van Leuvensteijn, 2016. "Measuring bank competition under binding interest rate regulation: the case of China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(49), pages 4699-4718, October.
    22. Brennan, Michael J & Schwartz, Edwardo S, 1978. "Corporate Income Taxes, Valuation, and the Problem of Optimal Capital Structure," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 103-114, January.
    23. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    24. Elias Steinmüller & Georg U. Thunecke & Georg Wamser, 2019. "Corporate income taxes around the world: a survey on forward-looking tax measures and two applications," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(2), pages 418-456, April.
    25. Ajay Agrawal & Carlos Rosell & Timothy Simcoe, 2020. "Tax Credits and Small Firm R&D Spending," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, May.
    26. Lan, Fei & Wang, Wei & Cao, Qingzi, 2020. "Tax cuts and enterprises’ R&D intensity: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 304-314.
    27. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2012. "An International Comparison of Capital Structure and Debt Maturity Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 23-56, February.
    28. Deng, Kebin & Zhu, Yushu & Smith, Tom & McCrystal, Alan, 2020. "Tax and leverage: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    29. Eisner, Robert, 1969. "Tax Policy and Investment Behavior: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 379-388, June.
    30. Bailey, Warren & Huang, Wei & Yang, Zhishu, 2011. "Bank Loans with Chinese Characteristics: Some Evidence on Inside Debt in a State-Controlled Banking System," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1795-1830, December.
    31. Fan, Ziying & Liu, Yu, 2020. "Tax Compliance and Investment Incentives: Firm Responses to Accelerated Depreciation in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 1-17.
    32. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March.
    33. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    34. Liu, Qing & Lu, Yi, 2015. "Firm investment and exporting: Evidence from China's value-added tax reform," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 392-403.
    35. Dammon, Robert M & Senbet, Lemma W, 1988. " The Effect of Taxes and Depreciation on Corporate Investment and Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 357-373, June.
    36. Eric Zwick & James Mahon, 2017. "Tax Policy and Heterogeneous Investment Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 217-248, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lexin Zhao & Hongsheng Fang, 2022. "Investment incentives and leverage: Evidence from China’s accelerated depreciation policy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(11), pages 3625-3649, November.
    2. Zou, Jingxian & Shen, Guangjun & Gong, Yaxian, 2019. "The effect of value-added tax on leverage: Evidence from China’s value-added tax reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 135-146.
    3. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    4. Hang, Markus & Geyer-Klingeberg, Jerome & Rathgeber, Andreas W. & Stöckl, Stefan, 2018. "Measurement matters—A meta-study of the determinants of corporate capital structure," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 211-225.
    5. Owen Nyang'oro, 2016. "Determinants of Capital Structure of Listed Firms in Kenya and the Impact of Corporate Tax," Working Papers 329, African Economic Research Consortium, Research Department.
    6. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    7. Broll, Udo & Wong, Keith K.P., 2010. "The firm under uncertainty: capital structure and background risk," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 04/10, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    8. Glenn Boyle & Kelly Eckhold, 1997. "Capital structure choice and financial market liberalization: evidence from New Zealand," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 427-437.
    9. Magdalena Haring & Rainer Niemann & Silke Rünger, 2016. "Investor Taxation, Firm Heterogeneity and Capital Structure Choice," CESifo Working Paper Series 6098, CESifo.
    10. Broll, Udo & Wong, Kit Pong, 2003. "Capital structure and the firm under uncertainty," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 20/03, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    11. Chen, Minjia & Matousek, Roman, 2020. "Do productive firms get external finance? Evidence from Chinese listed manufacturing firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Maria Angelina Valadares Silva & António Melo Cerqueira & Elísio Brandão, 2017. "The Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Non-financial Listed German Companies," FEP Working Papers 588, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    13. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.
    14. Schauten, M.B.J. & Spronk, J., 2006. "Optimal Capital Structure: Reflections on Economic and Other Values," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-074-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    15. Tom Caneghem & Geert Campenhout, 2012. "Quantity and quality of information and SME financial structure," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 341-358, September.
    16. Haring, Magdalena & Niemann, Rainer & Rünger, Silke, 2016. "Investor taxation, firm heterogeneity and capital structure choice," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 210, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    17. Olivier Butzbach & Domenico Sarno, 2019. "To What Extent Do Regional Effects Influence Firms’ Capital Structure? The Case of Southern Italian SMEs’," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Silke Rünger & Rainer Niemann & Magdalena Haring, 2019. "Investor taxation, firm heterogeneity and capital structure choice," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(4), pages 719-757, August.
    19. Jamie Alcock & Eva Steiner & Kelvin Tan, 2014. "Joint Leverage and Maturity Choices in Real Estate Firms: The Role of the REIT Status," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 57-78, January.
    20. Yue Cheng & Christopher J. Green, 2008. "Taxes And Capital Structure: A Study Of European Companies," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 76(s1), pages 85-115, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accelerated depreciation; Financing structure; Maturity mismatch;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:30:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s10797-022-09762-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.