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What If Dividends Were Tax-Exempt? Evidence from a Natural Experiment
[Financial constraints, asset tangibility, and corporate investment]

Author

Listed:
  • Dušan Isakov
  • Christophe Pérignon
  • Jean-Philippe Weisskopf

Abstract

We study the effect of dividend taxes on the payout and investment policies of publicly listed firms. We exploit a unique setting in Switzerland where, following the corporate tax reform of 2011, some but not all firms were suddenly able to pay tax-exempt dividends. We show that treated firms increase their dividend payout by around 30 after the tax cut. The effect on payout is less pronounced for firms prone to agency conflicts. We find a significant positive abnormal stock return after the announcement of the payment of a tax-exempt dividend. However, reducing dividend taxes does not boost investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Dušan Isakov & Christophe Pérignon & Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, 2021. "What If Dividends Were Tax-Exempt? Evidence from a Natural Experiment [Financial constraints, asset tangibility, and corporate investment]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(12), pages 5756-5795.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:34:y:2021:i:12:p:5756-5795.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhab010
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    Cited by:

    1. Dautović, Ernest & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Reghezza, Alessio, 2023. "Supervisory policy stimulus: evidence from the euro area dividend recommendation," Working Paper Series 2796, European Central Bank.
    2. Martin Huber, 2019. "An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation," Papers 1910.00641, arXiv.org.
    3. Matteo Ghilardi & Roy Zilberman, 2022. "Macroeconomic Effects of Dividend Taxation with Investment Credit Limits," IMF Working Papers 2022/127, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Lee, Seung Chul & Park, S. Saeyeul, 2023. "Dividend taxes and corporate choice: Evidence from 2015 tax cut in South Korea," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Abdullah AlGhazali & Khamis Hamed Al-Yahyaee & Richard Fairchild & Yilmaz Guney, 2024. "What do dividend changes reveal? Theory and evidence from a unique environment," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 499-552, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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