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Do Dividend Taxes Affect Corporate Investment?

In: Personal Income Taxation and Household Behavior (TAPES)

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  • Annette Alstadsæter
  • Martin Jacob
  • Roni Michaely

Abstract

We test whether dividend taxes affect corporate investments. We exploit Sweden's 2006 dividend tax cut of 10 percentage points for closely held corporations and 5 percentage points for widely held corporations. Using rich administrative panel data and triple-difference estimators, we find that this dividend tax cut does not affect aggregate investment but that it affects the allocation of corporate investment. Cash-constrained firms increase investment after the dividend tax cut relative to cash-rich firms. Reallocation is stronger among closely held firms that experience a larger tax cut. This result is explained by higher external equity in cash-constrained firms and by higher dividends in cash-rich firms after the tax cut.
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Suggested Citation

  • Annette Alstadsæter & Martin Jacob & Roni Michaely, 2017. "Do Dividend Taxes Affect Corporate Investment?," NBER Chapters, in: Personal Income Taxation and Household Behavior (TAPES), National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:13476
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    Cited by:

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    3. Laurent Bach & Antoine Bozio & Brice Fabre & Arthur Guillouzouic & Claire Leroy & Clément Malgouyres, 2019. "Follow the money! Combining household and firm-level evidence to unravel the tax elasticity of dividend," Institut des Politiques Publiques halshs-02415470, HAL.
    4. A. E. Biondo & G. Burgio & A. Pluchino & D. Puglisi, 2022. "Taxation and evasion: a dynamic model," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 797-826, July.
    5. Wen, Jun & Farooq, Umar & Tabash, Mosab I. & El Refae, Ghaleb A. & Ahmed, Jaleel & Subhani, Bilal Haider, 2021. "Government green environmental concerns and corporate real investment decisions: Does financial sector development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. Bonga-Bonga, Lumengo & Erero, Jean Luc, 2019. "The Impact of the Dividend Tax in South Africa: A Dynamic CGE Model Analysis," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 72(2), pages 185-208.
    7. Laurent Bach & Antoine Bozio & Brice Fabre & Arthur Guillouzouic & Claire Leroy & Clément Malgouyres, 2019. "Follow the money! Combining household and firm-level evidence to unravel the tax elasticity of dividend," SciencePo Working papers Main halshs-02415470, HAL.
    8. Kai Chang & Ning Lu & Ze Sheng Li & Yi Ran Wang, 2021. "The combined impacts of fiscal and credit policies on green firm's investment opportunity: Evidences from Chinese firm‐level analysis," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(7), pages 1822-1835, October.
    9. M. Jonathan C. Eklund, 2022. "Do multinational firms respond to personal dividend income tax rates?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1743-1771, April.
    10. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2017. "Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: An Agenda for Europe," Working Paper Series 1150, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 16 Feb 2017.
    11. Jacob, Martin, 2021. "Dividend taxes, employment, and firm productivity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Mona Yaghoubi & Reza Yaghoubi, 2021. "The Effect of SARS Outbreak on Corporate Investments," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 117-125.
    13. Adrien Matray & Charles Boissel, 2020. "Higher Dividend Taxes, No Problem! Evidence from Taxing Entrepreneurs in France," Working Papers 276, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    14. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Jacob, Martin & Schneider, Kerstin, 2020. "Do tax incentives reduce investment quality?," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 248, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    15. Pham, Ngoc-Sang, 2017. "Dividend taxation in an infinite-horizon general equilibrium model," MPRA Paper 80580, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. 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).
    17. Katarzyna Bilicka & Irem Güçeri & Evangelos Koumanakos & Katarzyna Anna Bilicka & Irem Guceri, 2022. "Dividend Taxation and Firm Performance with Heterogeneous Payout Responses," CESifo Working Paper Series 10185, CESifo.
    18. Fang, Hongsheng & Su, Yunqing & Lu, Weijun, 2022. "Tax incentive and corporate financial performance: Evidence from income tax revenue sharing reform in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Harju, Jarkko & Koivisto, Aliisa & Matikka, Tuomas, 2022. "The effects of corporate taxes on small firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    20. Kong, Dongmin & Ji, Mianmian & Zhang, Fan, 2022. "Individual investors’ dividend tax reform and corporate social responsibility," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    21. Harju, Jarkko & Koivisto, Aliisa & Matikka, Tuomas, 2020. "The Effects of Corporate Taxes on Small Firms," Working Papers 129, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    22. Umar Farooq & Suhaib Anagreh & Mohammad Ahmad Al-Omari & Mosab I. Tabash, 2022. "Corporate Tax Rate, Financing Policy and Investment Decisions: Evidence from 8 Asian Economies," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 242(3), pages 29-51, September.

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    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

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