Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/26246 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 2201
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Using register-based panel data covering all Finnish firms in 1999-2004, we examine how corporations anticipated the 2005 dividend tax increase via changes in their dividend and investment policies. The Finnish capital and corporate income tax reform of 2005 creates a useful opportunity to measure this behaviour, since it involves exogenous variation in the tax treatment of different types of firms. The estimation results reveal that those firms that anticipated a dividend tax hike increased their dividend payouts by 10-50 per cent. This increase was not accompanied by a reduction in investment activities, but rather was associated with increased indebtedness in non-listed firms. The results also suggest that the timing of dividend distributions probably offsets much of the potential for increased dividend tax revenue following the reform.
Subjects: 
corporate income taxation
dividends
tax reform
anticipation effects
JEL: 
H25
H32
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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