IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tax/taxpap/0033.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Debt-Equity Bias: consequences and solutions

Author

Listed:
  • Serena Fatica

    (European Commission)

  • Thomas Hemmelgarn

    (European Commission)

  • Gaetan Nicodeme

    (European Commission)

Abstract

The tax deductibility of interest payments in most corporate income tax systems coupled with no such measure for equity financing creates economic distortions and exacerbates leverage. This paper discusses the consequences of this debt bias and the possible remedies.

Suggested Citation

  • Serena Fatica & Thomas Hemmelgarn & Gaetan Nicodeme, 2012. "The Debt-Equity Bias: consequences and solutions," Taxation Papers 33, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    • Handle: RePEc:tax:taxpap:0033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/taxation/gen_info/economic_analysis/tax_papers/taxation_paper_33_en.pdf
    File Function: final version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Savina Princen, 2012. "Taxes do Affect Corporate Financing Decisions: The Case of Belgian ACE," CESifo Working Paper Series 3713, CESifo.
    3. 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.
    4. James R. Hines, Jr. & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1990. "Coming Home to America: Dividend Repatriations by US Multinationals," NBER Chapters, in: Taxation in the Global Economy, pages 161-208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Boadway, Robin & Bruce, Neil, 1984. "A general proposition on the design of a neutral business tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 231-239, July.
    6. Fred Ramb & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxes and the Financial Structure of German Inward FDI," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(4), pages 670-692, December.
    7. Fuest, Clemens & Hemmelgarn, Thomas, 2005. "Corporate tax policy, foreign firm ownership and thin capitalization," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 508-526, September.
    8. Altshuler, Rosanne & Grubert, Harry, 2003. "Repatriation taxes, repatriation strategies and multinational financial policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 73-107, January.
    9. Jack Mintz & Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxation and the Financial Structure of German Outbound FDI," CESifo Working Paper Series 1612, CESifo.
    10. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2008. "Capital structure and international debt shifting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 80-118, April.
    11. Collins, Julie H. & Shackelford, Douglas A., 1997. "Global organizations and taxes: An analysis of the dividend, interest, royalty, and management fee payments between U.S. multinationals' foreign affiliates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 151-173, December.
    12. Jennifer Blouin & Harry Huizinga & Luc Laeven & Gaëtan Nicodème, 2013. "Thin capitalization rules and multinational firm capital structure," Working Papers 1323, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    13. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    14. Ruud de Mooij & Michael P. Devereux, 2008. "Alternative Systems of Business Tax in Europe: An applied analysis of ACE and CBIT Reforms," Taxation Studies 0023, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    15. Grubert, Harry, 1998. "Taxes and the division of foreign operating income among royalties, interest, dividends and retained earnings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 269-290, May.
    16. Ruud A. De Mooij & Michael Keen, 2016. "Debt, Taxes, and Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(1), pages 5-33, February.
    17. Ruud A. de Mooij, 2011. "The Tax Elasticity of Corporate Debt: A Synthesis of Size and Variations," IMF Working Papers 2011/095, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Kenneth A. Froot & James R. Hines, Jr., 1995. "Interest Allocation Rules, Financing Patterns, and the Operations of U.S. Multinationals," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Multinational Corporations, pages 277-312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Thomas Hemmelgarn & Gaetan Nicodeme, 2010. "The 2008 Financial Crisis and Taxation Policy," Taxation Papers 20, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    20. Ruud Mooij & Michael Devereux, 2011. "An applied analysis of ACE and CBIT reforms in the EU," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(1), pages 93-120, February.
    21. Schreiber, Ulrich & Overesch, Michael & Büttner, Thiess & Wamser, Georg, 2006. "The Impact of Thin-Capitalization Rules on Multinationals? Financing and Investment Decisions," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-068, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    22. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Tina Klautke & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2008. "Taxes and the Efficiency Costs of Capital Distortions," CESifo Working Paper Series 2431, CESifo.
    23. John R. Graham & Mark T. Leary, 2011. "A Review of Empirical Capital Structure Research and Directions for the Future," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 309-345, December.
    24. David de Meza & David C. Webb, 1987. "Too Much Investment: A Problem of Asymmetric Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 281-292.
    25. Anat R. Admati & Peter M. DeMarzo & Martin F. Hellwig & Paul Pfleiderer, 2010. "Fallacies, Irrelevant Facts, and Myths in the Discussion of Capital Regulation: Why Bank Equity is Not Expensive," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2010_42, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    26. Frances Ruane & Padraig Moore, 2005. "Taxation and the Financial Structure of Foreign Direct Investment," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp88, IIIS.
    27. Graham, John R., 1999. "Do personal taxes affect corporate financing decisions?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 147-185, August.
    28. Fossen, Frank & Simmler, Martin, 2012. "Differential taxation and firms' financial leverage: Evidence from the introduction of a flat tax on interest income," Discussion Papers 2012/4, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    29. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    30. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    31. Hines, James Jr., 1994. "Credit and deferral as international investment incentives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 323-347, October.
    32. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    33. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:2451-2487 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Zew, 2012. "Effective Tax Levels Using the Devereux-Griffith Methodology: 2011 report," Taxation Studies 0042, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    35. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    36. Martin Hellwig, 2010. "Capital Regulation after the Crisis: Business as Usual?," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 8(02), pages 40-46, July.
    37. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. repec:ces:ifodic:v:8:y:2010:i:2:p:14566986 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Ruud A. De Mooij, 2012. "Tax Biases to Debt Finance: Assessing the Problem, Finding Solutions," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 489-512, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Castillo Murciego, Ángela & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Are Spanish companies involved in profit shifting? Consequences in terms of tax revenues," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-47.
    2. European Commission, 2013. "Tax reforms in EU Member States - Tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability – 2013 Report," Taxation Papers 38, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    3. Jarkko Harju & Ilpo Kauppinen & Olli Ropponen, 2017. "Firm Responses to an Interest Barrier: Empirical Evidence," EconPol Working Paper 3, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Ahmed Mahdi Belouafi & Chaouki Bourakba & Karima Saci, 2015. "Islamic Finance and Financial Stability: A Review of the Literature التمويل الإسلامي والاستقرار المالي: مراجعة الأدبيات النظرية," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 28(2), pages 3-42, July.
    5. Fischer, Marcel & Jensen, Bjarne Astrup, 2019. "The debt tax shield in general equilibrium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 151-166.
    6. Milena Mathé & Gaetan Nicodeme & Savino Rua, 2015. "Tax shifts," Taxation Papers 59, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    7. Marina Purina, 2021. "Human Freedom and Effective Corporate Income Tax Rates of CEE Listed Companies," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2021(2), pages 05-28.
    8. Thomas Hemmelgarn & Daniel Teichmann, 2014. "Tax reforms and the capital structure of banks," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 645-693, August.
    9. Fischer, Marcel & Jensen, Bjarne Astrup, 2024. "The tax shield increases the interest rate," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Kayis-Kumar, Ann, 2015. "Taxing cross-border intercompany transactions: are financing activities fungible?," MPRA Paper 71615, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Coeuré, B., 2015. "Completing the single market in capital," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 19, pages 15-24, April.
    12. Serena Fatica & Wouter Heynderickx & Andrea Pagano, 2020. "Banks, Debt And Risk: Assessing The Spillovers Of Corporate Taxes," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(2), pages 1023-1044, April.
    13. Portal, Márcio Telles & Laureano, Luis, 2017. "Does Brazilian allowance for corporate equity reduce the debt bias? Evidences of rebound effect and ownership-induced ACE clientele," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 480-495.
    14. Bernardi, Luigi, 2014. "Tax reforms in EU Member States subce rhe turn of the New centuri: selected observations," MPRA Paper 56856, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Yun Luo & Sailesh Tanna, 2014. "Taxation and bank risk-taking," Chapters, in: Sajid M. Chaudhry & Andrew W Mullineux (ed.), Taxing Banks Fairly, chapter 2, pages 31-53, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Luigi Bernardi, 2014. "Tax Reforms in the EU Member States Since the Turn of the New Century: Selected Observations," Working papers 2, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    17. Kayis-Kumar, Ann, 2015. "Thin capitalisation rules: A second-best solution to the cross-border debt bias?," MPRA Paper 72031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Spengel, Christoph & Heckemeyer, Jost Henrich & Bräutigam, Rainer & Nicolay, Katharina & Klar, Oliver & Stutzenberger, Kathrin, 2016. "The effects of tax reforms to address the debt-equity bias on the cost of capital and on effective tax rates," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, volume 65, number 148156.
    19. N. Nazukova, 2015. "Theoretical framework on the assessment of the tax burden on capital investment," Economy and Forecasting, Valeriy Heyets, issue 2, pages 21-33.
    20. Ahmed Belouafi, 2014. "Islamic Finance and Financial Stability: A Review of Theoretical Literature التمويل الإسلامي والاستقرار المالي: مراجعة الأدبيات النظرية," Papers or presentations in the in-house seminars conducted by the Islamic Economics Institute, KAAU. 45, Islamic Economics Institute, King Abdulaziz University.

    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. European Commission, 2011. "Tax Reforms in EU Member States 2011: tax policy challenges for economic growth and fiscal sustainability," Taxation Papers 28, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    2. Feld, Lars P. & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2850-2866.
    3. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2008. "Capital structure and international debt shifting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 80-118, April.
    4. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Tina Klautke & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2008. "Taxes and the Efficiency Costs of Capital Distortions," CESifo Working Paper Series 2431, CESifo.
    5. Thomas Hemmelgarn & Daniel Teichmann, 2014. "Tax reforms and the capital structure of banks," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 645-693, August.
    6. Luca, Oana & Tieman, Alexander F., 2019. "Financial sector debt bias," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2017. "Taxation and the optimal constraint on corporate debt finance: why a comprehensive business income tax is suboptimal," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(5), pages 731-753, September.
    8. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    9. 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.
    10. Michael Overesch & Dennis Voeller, 2010. "The Impact of Personal and Corporate Taxation on Capital Structure Choices," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 66(3), pages 263-294, September.
    11. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2014. "Taxation and the Optimal Constraint on Corporate Debt Finance," CESifo Working Paper Series 5101, CESifo.
    12. 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.
    13. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2014. "Taxation and the optimal constraint on corporate debt finance," Working Papers 1427, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    14. Amarjit Gill & Craig Wilson, 2021. "Bank connections and small business performance: Evidence from Canadian survey data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5110-5134, October.
    15. Nils aus dem Moore, 2014. "Taxes and Corporate Financing Decisions – Evidence from the Belgian ACE Reform," Ruhr Economic Papers 0533, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Elif Acar & Gamze Vural & Emin Hüseyin Çetenak, 2020. "Evidence for Financial Hierarchy Theory in Capital Structure Decisions: Data from BIST Companies," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 29-50.
    17. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    18. Grace Gu & Ruud Mooij & Tigran Poghosyan, 2015. "Taxation and leverage in international banking," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 177-200, April.
    19. Rumpf, Dominik, 2013. "Zinsbereinigung bei der Dualen Einkommensteuer," Beiträge zur Finanzwissenschaft, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, edition 1, volume 32, number urn:isbn:9783161528699, May.
    20. Peter Brusov & Tatiana Filatova, 2023. "Capital Structure Theory: Past, Present, Future," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-30, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Taxation; Financial sector; Debt; Allowance for Corporate Equity; Comprehensive Business Income Tax; corporate structure.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:tax:taxpap:0033. 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: Gaetan Nicodeme or Ana Xavier or Ioana Diaconescu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dtcecbe.html .

    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.