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The burden of attention: CEO publicity and tax avoidance

Author

Listed:
  • Tinghua Duan

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Rong Ding
  • Wenxuan Hou
  • John Ziyang Zhang

Abstract

We use search volume index (SVI) for a CEO's name and stock ticker from Google Trends to measure CEO publicity, and examine the competing hypotheses on its relation to tax avoidance. On the one hand, CEOs who receive more attention from retail investors may engage in tax evasion activities to meet investors' performance expectations; on the other hand, they are more concerned with public image and avoiding being labeled as tax avoiders. Based on the CEOs of S&P 500 firms between 2004 and 2011, our finding supports the former and shows that CEOs with higher publicity manage to have a lower effective tax rate and cash effective tax rate. Such effect is moderated by board independence. Finally, firms with higher CEO publicity pay auditors higher tax fees, suggesting that these CEOs tend to use more tax planning services from auditors.

Suggested Citation

  • Tinghua Duan & Rong Ding & Wenxuan Hou & John Ziyang Zhang, 2018. "The burden of attention: CEO publicity and tax avoidance," Post-Print hal-02993036, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02993036
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.02.010
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    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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