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Taxation and Capital Structure: Evidence from a Transition Economy

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  • Konstantinos Tzioumis
  • Leora F. Klapper

Abstract

We examine the effects of taxation on financing policy using the corporate tax reform in 2001 in Croatia as a quasi-natural experiment. Since the extant literature on tax effects on capital structure studies listed firms in developed countries, it is worth investigating whether the same results apply to privately-held small and medium enterprises in transition economies. The findings provide significant evidence that lower taxes have affected the capital structure of Croatian firms, resulting in increased equity levels. These findings are consistent with the trade-off theory of capital structure, which suggests that lower taxes increase the incentive to hold equity due to decreasing interest tax deductibility of debt.

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  • Konstantinos Tzioumis & Leora F. Klapper, 2012. "Taxation and Capital Structure: Evidence from a Transition Economy," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 68(2), pages 165-190, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(201206)68:2_165:tacsef_2.0.tx_2-b
    DOI: 10.1628/001522108X639972
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    8. Stöckl Matthias & Winner Hannes, 2013. "Körperschaftsbesteuerung und Unternehmensverschuldung: Evidenz aus einem Europäischen Firmenpanel / Capital Structure and Corporate Taxation: Empirical Evidence from European Panel Data," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(2), pages 188-205, April.
    9. Dejan Malinić & Ksenija DenÄ ić-Mihajlov & Ema Ljubenović, 2013. "The Determinants of Capital Structure in Emerging Capital Markets: Evidence from Serbia," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 98-119.
    10. Kosmidis, Spyros, 2013. "Government constraints and economic voting in Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 50259, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. 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.
    12. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    13. George Kazamias, 2010. "From Pragmatism to Idealism to Failure: Britain in the Cyprus crisis of 1974," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 42, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    14. Karagiannis, Stelios & Panagopoulos, Yannis & Vlamis, Prodromos, 2010. "Symmetric or asymmetric interest rate adjustments? Evidence from Greece, Bulgaria and Slovenia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 29168, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    16. Spyros Kosmidis, 2013. "Government Constraints and Economic Voting in Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 70, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    17. George Pagoulatos & Nikolaos Zahariadis, 2011. "Politics, Labor, Regulation, and Performance: lessons from the privatization of OTE," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 46, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    18. Voskeritsian, Horen & Kornelakis, Andreas, 2011. "Institutional change in Greek industrial relations in an era of fiscal crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41758, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Lyrintzis, Christos, 2011. "Greek politics in the era of economic crisis: reassessing causes and effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33826, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Matthias Stöckl & Hannes Winner, 2012. "Körperschaftsbesteuerung und Unternehmensverschuldung. Evidenz aus einem europäischen Firmenpanel," WIFO Working Papers 422, WIFO.
    21. Ricca, Leandro Telles & Jucá, Michele Nascimento & Hadad Junior, Eli, 2021. "Tax benefit and bankruptcy cost of debt," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 82-92.
    22. Alberternst, Stephan & Sureth, Caren, 2015. "The effect of taxes on corporate financing decisions: Evidence from the German interest barrier," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 182, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    23. Iván Arribas & Emili Tortosa-Ausina & TingTing Zhu, 2021. "Optimal capital structure, model uncertainty, and European SMEs," Working Papers 2021/11, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
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    25. Dinkel, Andreas, 2015. "Tax attractiveness and the allocation of risk within multinationals," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 189, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital structure; taxation; transition economies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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