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Four facts about dividend payouts and the 2003 tax cut

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  • Jesse Edgerton

Abstract

Recent literature has claimed that the 2003 U.S. dividend tax cut caused a large increase in aggregate dividend payouts. I document four simple facts that call this claim into question. First, the post-tax cut increase in dividend payouts coincided with a surge in corporate profits, such that the dividend payout ratio did not rise. Second, share repurchases increased even more rapidly than dividend payouts. Third, dividend payouts by Real Estate Investment Trusts also rose sharply, even though they did not qualify for reduced taxation. Finally, the stock market was forecasting an increase in dividend initiations by mid-2002, before the tax cut had been proposed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Jesse Edgerton, 2013. "Four facts about dividend payouts and the 2003 tax cut," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(5), pages 769-784, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:20:y:2013:i:5:p:769-784
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-012-9242-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    18. Jennifer Blouin & Jana Raedy & Douglas Shackelford, 2010. "Dividends, Share Repurchases, and Tax Clienteles: Evidence from the 2003 Reductions in Shareholder Taxes," NBER Working Papers 16129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yu, Xin & Wang, Yuetang & Chen, Yingrun & Wang, Guojun, 2021. "Dividend payouts and catering to demands: Evidence from a dividend tax reform," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Floyd, Eric & Li, Nan & Skinner, Douglas J., 2015. "Payout policy through the financial crisis: The growth of repurchases and the resilience of dividends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 299-316.
    3. Danilo Stojanovic, 2022. "The 2003 Tax Reform and Corporate Payout Policy in the US," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp727, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. David Eberhardt & Nils Linnemann & Martin Thomsen, 2019. "Die Einführung von § 8b Abs. 4 KStG – Eine ökonomische Analyse potentieller Ausweichreaktionen [The Introduction of Sec. 8b (4) Corporate Income Tax Act—An Economic Analysis of Potential Avoidance ," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 271-311, November.
    5. Danny Yagan, 2015. "Capital Tax Reform and the Real Economy: The Effects of the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3531-3563, December.
    6. Hanlon, Michelle & Hoopes, Jeffrey L., 2014. "What do firms do when dividend tax rates change? An examination of alternative payout responses," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 105-124.
    7. Lily Nguyen & Le Vu & Xiangkang Yin, 2021. "Share repurchases and firm innovation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1665-1695, April.
    8. Jeong Hwan Lee & Young Lee, 2024. "Taxes, Payout Policy, and Share Prices: Evidence from DID Analysis Using Korea’s 2015–2017 Dividend Tax Cut," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 40, pages 77-106.
    9. Booth, Laurence & Zhou, Jun, 2017. "Dividend policy: A selective review of results from around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-15.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Taxes; Payout policy; Dividends; Share repurchases; H20; G35;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

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