Tax avoidance and firm value: evidence from China

Xudong Chen, Na Hu, Xue Wang and Xiaofei Tang

Nankai Business Review International, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 25-42

Abstract: Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to examine whether corporate tax avoidance behavior increases firm value in Chinese context. A large number of studies conduct their designs on the consumption that tax avoidance represents wealth transfer from government to enterprises and therefore enhances firm value. This study argues that, contrast to developed countries, tax avoidance does not necessarily add value to opaque Chinese firms relative to transparent counterparts due to higher agency costs. Design/methodology/approach - – Using a large sample of Chinese listed-firms data for the period 2001-2009 and fixed effects regression model, this study examines the relation between tax avoidance and firm value. A series of robustness checks are conducted to alleviate the concern of endogeneity. Findings - – The authors find that tax avoidance behavior increases agency costs and reduces firm value. The authors further find that information transparency interacts with corporate tax avoidance, moderating the relation between tax avoidance and firm value. Investors in China react negatively to corporate tax avoidance behavior, but this negative reaction could be mitigated by information transparency. The results are robust to a series of alternative treatments, including varied measures, first-order differential approach and 2SLS. Originality/value - – The results suggest that tax avoidance does not necessarily increase firm value, part of gains are encroached by self-serving managers. Moreover, investors in China downplay the significance of tax avoidance, although corporate information transparency could soften their negative tone.

Keywords: Tax avoidance; Firm value; Information transparency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:nbripp:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:25-42

DOI: 10.1108/NBRI-10-2013-0037

Access Statistics for this article

Nankai Business Review International is currently edited by Dr Xuexiu Wang and Professor Li Wei'an

More articles in Nankai Business Review International from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().