Dividend taxation and intertemporal tax arbitrage
Anton Korinek and
Joseph Stiglitz
Journal of Public Economics, 2009, vol. 93, issue 1-2, 142-159
Abstract:
We analyze the effects of changes in dividend tax policy using a life-cycle model of the firm, in which new firms first access equity markets, then grow internally, and finally pay dividends when they have reached steady state. We find that unanticipated permanent changes in tax rates have only small effects on aggregate investment, since macroeconomic dynamics are dominated by mature firms for which dividend taxation is not distortionary. Anticipated or temporary dividend tax changes, on the other hand, create incentives for firms to engage in inter-temporal tax arbitrage so as to reduce investors' tax burden. For example, a temporary tax cut - the type most likely to be enacted by policymakers - induces firms to accelerate dividend payments while tax rates are low, which reduces their cash holdings and makes them capital-constrained when large investment opportunities arise. This can significantly lower aggregate investment for periods after the tax cut.
Keywords: Dividend; taxation; Capital; constraints; Aggregate; investment; Political; economy; of; taxation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (58)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047-2727(08)00125-4
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
Working Paper: Dividend Taxation and Intertemporal Tax Arbitrage (2008) 
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:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:1-2:p:142-159
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Public Economics is currently edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba
More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().