Tax shelters and corporate debt policy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Graham, John R.; Tucker, Alan L.
• 署名单位: Duke University; Pace University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2005.09.002
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 563-594
• 关键词: Taxes; tax shelters; debt; capital structure; Tax evasion

摘要

We gather a unique sample of 44 tax shelter cases to investigate the magnitude of tax shelter activity and whether participating in a shelter is related to corporate debt policy. The average annual deduction produced by the shelters in our sample is very large, equaling approximately nine percent of asset value. These deductions are more than three times as large as interest deductions for comparable companies. The firms in our sample use less debt when they engage in tax sheltering. Compared to companies with similar pre-shelter debt ratios, the debt ratios of firms engaged in tax shelters fall by about 8%. The tax shelter firms in our sample appear underlevered. if shelters are ignored but do not appear underlevered once shelters are considered. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.