IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v59y2024ics1544612323011388.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local government debt and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Peng, Pin
  • Lin, Gaoyi

Abstract

Based on the data of National Taxation Survey from 2009 to 2015, a fixed-effect model is adopted in this paper to analyze the effect and mechanism of the local government debt on tax avoidance. The result shows the scale of local government debt is significant positively correlated with the aggressive of corporate tax avoidance. With further examination, the paper finds that local government debt has a significant "crowding-out effect" on corporate financing, which exacerbates corporate financing constraints, and thus intensifies the aggressive of corporate tax avoidance. In the heterogeneity analysis, the results show that the impact of local government debt on corporate tax avoidance has significant heterogeneity among enterprises with different property rights and different scales. This research not only expands and deepens the theoretical understanding of local government debt and corporate tax avoidance but also provides references for strengthening corporate tax compliance.

Suggested Citation

  • Peng, Pin & Lin, Gaoyi, 2024. "Local government debt and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:59:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323011388
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104766
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323011388
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104766?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lugo, Stefano & Piccillo, Giulia, 2019. "The Relation between Corporate and Government Debt Maturity in Europe," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(5), pages 2119-2140, October.
    2. Kunyu Tao, 2015. "Assessing Local Government Debt Risks in China: A Case Study of Local Government Financial Vehicles," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 23(5), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Demirci, Irem & Huang, Jennifer & Sialm, Clemens, 2019. "Government debt and corporate leverage: International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 337-356.
    4. Graham, John R. & Leary, Mark T. & Roberts, Michael R., 2015. "A century of capital structure: The leveraging of corporate America," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 658-683.
    5. Qu, Xi & Xu, Zhiwei & Yu, Jinxiang & Zhu, Jun, 2023. "Understanding local government debt in China: A regional competition perspective," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Zhang, Man & Brookins, Oscar T. & Huang, Xiaowei, 2022. "The crowding out effect of central versus local government debt: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. K. Hung Chan & Phyllis L. L. Mo & Amy Y. Zhou & Steven Cahan, 2013. "Government ownership, corporate governance and tax aggressiveness: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 1029-1051, December.
    8. Huang, Shuo, 2022. "The unintended consequence of local government debt: evidence from stock price crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    9. Cull, Robert & Li, Wei & Sun, Bo & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2015. "Government connections and financial constraints: Evidence from a large representative sample of Chinese firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 271-294.
    10. Mihir A Desai & Dhammika Dharmapala, 2009. "Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Value," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(3), pages 537-546, August.
    11. Meina Cai & Jianyong Fan & Chunhui Ye & Qi Zhang, 2021. "Government debt, land financing and distributive justice in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(11), pages 2329-2347, August.
    12. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Jun & Xu, Haokun & Zhang, Yue, 2022. "Local government debt and firm productivity: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Zhang, Man & Brookins, Oscar T. & Huang, Xiaowei, 2022. "The crowding out effect of central versus local government debt: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Chen, Wen & Zhu, Yufeng & He, Zehui & Yang, Yang, 2022. "The effect of local government debt on green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Lou, Zhaohui & Xie, Qizhuo & Shen, Jim Huangnan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2024. "Does Supply Chain Finance (SCF) alleviate funding constraints of SMEs? Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    5. Viet Anh Dang & Edward Lee & Yangke Liu & Cheng Zeng, 2018. "Corporate debt maturity and stock price crash risk," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(3), pages 451-484, June.
    6. Chen, Haosi & Maslar, David A. & Serfling, Matthew, 2020. "Asset redeployability and the choice between bank debt and public debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Yang, Jin Young & Suh, Hyunduk, 2023. "Heterogeneous effects of macroprudential policies on firm leverage and value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Wei Cen & Naqiong Tong & Yushi Sun, 2017. "Tax avoidance and cost of debt: evidence from a natural experiment in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(5), pages 1517-1556, December.
    9. Fischer, Marcel & Jensen, Bjarne Astrup, 2024. "The tax shield increases the interest rate," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Wang, Jiaxin & Chen, Jin & Huang, Xiang & Song, Zilong, 2023. "Principal SOE customers and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from the government arrears clearance reform," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Jiang, Fuwei & Qi, Xinlin & Tang, Guohao, 2018. "Q-theory, mispricing, and profitability premium: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 135-149.
    12. Kovermann, Jost & Velte, Patrick, 2019. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance—A literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Foley-Fisher, Nathan & Ramcharan, Rodney & Yu, Edison, 2016. "The impact of unconventional monetary policy on firm financing constraints: Evidence from the maturity extension program," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 409-429.
    14. Liu, Tianming & Xiong, Haifang & Li, Yifei & Wang, Zhiqiang, 2023. "The flight to safety during credit recovery: The role of implicit government guarantees," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Yangyang Chen & Rui Ge & Henock Louis & Leon Zolotoy, 2019. "Stock liquidity and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 309-340, March.
    16. Yahaya, Mohammed Baba & Oon, Elaine Yen Nee & Jusoh, Ruzita, 2024. "CEO Duality and Bank Tax Avoidance: The Moderating Role of Risk Committees - An International Evidence," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 74(1), pages 73-104.
    17. Mark J. Flannery & Claire Yurong Hong & Baolian Wang, 2023. "The Effect of Government Reference Bonds on Corporate Borrowing Costs: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(7), pages 4051-4077, July.
    18. Li, WeiWei & Huang, Ruilei & Gan, Zhongxin & Jiang, Zhiyan, 2024. "Do state-affiliated corporate shareholders matter for asset-liability maturity mismatch?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    19. Ahsan Habib & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Ahesha Perera, 2024. "Strategic Deviation and Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Risk Management Perspective," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-25, April.
    20. Mabel D. Costa & Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2021. "Financial constraints and asymmetric cost behavior," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 33-83, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:59:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323011388. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.