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Interest Rates, Taxes and Corporate Financial Policies

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  • Gordon, Roger
  • Lee, Young

Abstract

This paper investigates the combined effect of nominal interest rates and taxes on the use and maturity structure of corporate debt. The net tax gain from use of corporate debt is proportional to nominal interest rates, so that behavioral responses should be larger when interest rates are higher. For similar reasons, firms should shift towards more long–term debt as long–term rates rise relative to short–term rates. Our paper presents evidence consistent with both predictions, using corporate and personal tax return data from the U.S. Statistics of Income (SOI).

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon, Roger & Lee, Young, 2007. "Interest Rates, Taxes and Corporate Financial Policies," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 60(1), pages 65-84, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:60:y:2007:i:1:p:65-84
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2007.1.04
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan J. Auerbach, 1979. "Wealth Maximization and the Cost of Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(3), pages 433-446.
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    Cited by:

    1. Feld, Lars P. & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2850-2866.
    2. Miglo, Anton, 2010. "The Pecking Order, Trade-off, Signaling, and Market-Timing Theories of Capital Structure: a Review," MPRA Paper 46691, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2013.
    3. Luca, Oana & Tieman, Alexander F., 2019. "Financial sector debt bias," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Miglo, Anton & Liang, Shuting & Lee, Zhenting, 2014. "Capital Structure of Internet Companies: Case Study," MPRA Paper 56330, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Jenny Simon, 2015. "Optimal Debt Bias in Corporate Income Taxation," CESifo Working Paper Series 5561, CESifo.
    6. Pietro Dallari & Nicolas End & Fedor Miryugin & Alexander F. Tieman & Seyed Reza Yousefi, 2020. "Pouring oil on fire: interest deductibility and corporate debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(6), pages 1520-1556, December.
    7. Anton Miglo, 2012. "Managers versus Students: New Approach in Improving Capital Structure Education," Journal of Education and Vocational Research, AMH International, vol. 3(11), pages 353-369.
    8. Michael Pfaffermayr & Matthias Stöckl & Hannes Winner, 2013. "Capital Structure, Corporate Taxation and Firm Age," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 109-135, March.
    9. Stefan Lutz, 2012. "Effects of taxation on European multi-nationals’ financing and profits," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1214, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    10. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Cagé, Julia & Kerr, William R., 2016. "Taxation, corruption, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 24-51.
    11. Jinbaek Park & Young Lee, 2019. "Corporate income taxes, corporate debt, and household debt," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(3), pages 506-535, June.
    12. Voeller, Dennis & Overesch, Michael, 2008. "The Impact of Personal and Corporate Taxation on Capital Structure Choices," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Dreßler, Daniel & Scheuering, Uwe, 2012. "Empirical evaluation of interest barrier effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-046, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2010. "Anticipated tax reforms and temporary tax cuts: A general equilibrium analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2141-2158, October.
    15. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    16. Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2012. "Laffer strikes again: Dynamic scoring of capital taxes," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1180-1199.
    17. Michael Overesch & Dennis Voeller, 2010. "The Impact of Personal and Corporate Taxation on Capital Structure Choices," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 66(3), pages 263-294, September.
    18. Joshua Ball & Günther G. Schulze & Nikita Zakharov, 2024. "Ain’t no Silver Bullet? Gun Laws and Suicide in the US," Discussion Paper Series 51 JEL Classification: I1, Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg, revised Dec 2024.

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