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Regional favoritism and tax avoidance: evidence from China

Author

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  • Yunsen Chen
  • Jianqiao Huang
  • Hang Liu
  • Weimin Wang

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of officials’ regional favoritism on corporate tax avoidance activity in China. We find that firms located in regions that were formerly administered by the current provincial governors have a higher level of tax avoidance than other firms in the province. Further evidence indicates that regional favoritism affects tax avoidance through two channels: regional politicians’ personal connections with the governor and firms’ political access to the governor. Overall, the findings support China's current official selection and promotion guidelines that restrict hometown favoritism. Our results further imply that favoritism can also extend to officials’ former administrative regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Yunsen Chen & Jianqiao Huang & Hang Liu & Weimin Wang, 2019. "Regional favoritism and tax avoidance: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(5), pages 1413-1443, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:58:y:2019:i:5:p:1413-1443
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12447
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    Cited by:

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    2. Faqin Lin & Rui Wang & Kuo Feng, 2024. "Regional favouritism in Chinese university admissions," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 209-236, January.
    3. Feng Huang & Jie Gao, 2022. "Customer and Tax Avoidance: How Does Customer Geographic Proximity Affect a Supplier’s Tax Avoidance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-30, November.
    4. Asatryan, Zareh & Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Birkholz, Carlo & Gomtsyan, David, 2021. "Favoritism and firms: Micro evidence and macro implications," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-031, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Zhuo Chen & Mingzhi Hu & Zhiyi Qiu, 2022. "Promotion Pressures of Local Leaders and Real Estate Investments: China and Leader Heterogeneity," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-14, August.
    6. Liu, Xiaoxia & Li, Minghui & Tong, Jamie Yixing & Zhang, Feida, 2022. "CFO gender and tax aggressiveness: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

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