US worldwide taxation and domestic mergers and acquisitions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Harris, Jeremiah; O'Brien, William
• 署名单位: University System of Ohio; Kent State University; Kent State University Salem; Kent State University Kent; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Chicago; University of Illinois Chicago Hospital
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0165-4101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2018.08.008
• 发表日期: 2018
• 关键词: Tax avoidance; founder-CEOs; corporate; INVESTMENT; MARKETS; cash

摘要

This study shows that domestic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were inhibited by the U.S.'s worldwide tax policy on foreign-earned income. Double Irish structures, a complex web of subsidiaries that reduce foreign tax rates and therefore increase potential repatriation tax rates, are associated with lower levels of domestic M&A by U.S. firms. These results do not reflect a continuation of prior trends or declines in worldwide acquisitiveness and are robust to several econometric approaches. We suggest that the Double Irish variable mitigates a confounding effect in an alternative tax variable that clouds inferences in tests of repatriation taxes and domestic M&A.