Debt, leases, taxes, and the endogeneity of corporate tax status

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Graham, JR; Lemmon, ML; Schallheim, JS
• 署名单位: Duke University; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/0022-1082.55404
• 发表日期: 1998
• 页码: 131-162
• 关键词: optimal capital structure; determinants; CONTRACTS; COSTS

摘要

We provide evidence that corporate tax status is endogenous to financing decisions, which induces a spurious relation between measures of financial policy and many commonly used tax proxies. Using a forward-looking estimate of before-financing corporate marginal tax rates, we document a negative relation between operating leases and tax rates, and a positive relation between debt levels and tax rates. This is the first unambiguous evidence supporting the hypothesis that low tax rate firms lease more, and have lower debt levels, than high tax rate firms.