IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rjr/romjef/v6y2009i1p76-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income Taxation Regulation And Companies’ Behaviour: Is The Romanian Companies’ Dividend Policy Influenced By The Changes In Income Taxation?

Author

Listed:
  • Dragota, Mihaela

    (Department of Finance, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

  • Dragota, Victor

    (Department of Finance, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

  • Tatu, Lucian

    (Department of Finance, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest)

  • Tatu, Delia

    (Department of Economics, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the dividend payout by Romanian companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in connection with the changes in corporate taxes. If the tax burden on corporate gross incomes is increasing, the companies’ management can follow two reasons in deciding the dividend payout: to allocate more for investments, or to increase the dividend ratio. Each of these decisions can be argued based on Corporate Finance principles, depending on the management objectives. This paper found no significant correlation between the dividend policy and the corporate tax burden. However, the dividend payout reacted when the regulations related to the tax treatment of incomes were changed in 2005. Moreover, the dividend policy seems to be sensitive to the ownership structure, which can be explained by the impact of some agency problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Dragota, Mihaela & Dragota, Victor & Tatu, Lucian & Tatu, Delia, 2009. "Income Taxation Regulation And Companies’ Behaviour: Is The Romanian Companies’ Dividend Policy Influenced By The Changes In Income Taxation?," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 6(1), pages 76-93, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:rjr:romjef:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:76-93
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ipe.ro/rjef/rjef1_09/rjef1_09_6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geert Bekaert & Campbell R. Harvey, 2000. "Foreign Speculators and Emerging Equity Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 565-613, April.
    2. Andreas Charitou & Nikos Vafeas, 1998. "The Association Between Operating Cash Flows and Dividend Changes: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1‐2), pages 225-249, January.
    3. Blume, Marshall E, 1980. "Stock Returns and Dividend Yields: Some More Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(4), pages 567-577, November.
    4. Peterson, Pamela P. & Peterson, David R. & Ang, James S., 1985. "Direct evidence on the marginal rate of taxation on dividend income," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 267-282, June.
    5. Jean Crockett & Irwin Friend, "undated". "Dividend Policy in Perspective: Can Theory Explain Behavior? (Revision of 30-86)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 4-88, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    7. Mihaela Dragota & Andreea Semenescu, 2008. "A Dynamic Analysis of Capital Structure Determinants. Empirical Results for Romanian Capital Market," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 4(4(521)), pages 65-80, April.
    8. Andreas Charitou & Nikos Vafeas, 1998. "The Association Between Operating Cash Flows and Dividend Changes: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1&2), pages 225-249.
    9. Miller, Merton H & Scholes, Myron S, 1982. "Dividends and Taxes: Some Empirical Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1118-1141, December.
    10. Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J, 1970. "Marginal Stockholder Tax Rates and the Clientele Effect," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(1), pages 68-74, February.
    11. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    12. Easterbrook, Frank H, 1984. "Two Agency-Cost Explanations of Dividends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 650-659, September.
    13. James M. Poterba & Lawrence H. Summers, 1984. "The Economic Effects of Dividend Taxation," NBER Working Papers 1353, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
    15. Pettit, R. Richardson, 1977. "Taxes, transactions costs and the clientele effect of dividends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 419-436, December.
    16. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron, 1974. "The effects of dividend yield and dividend policy on common stock prices and returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, May.
    17. Crockett, Jean A & Friend, Irwin, 1988. "Dividend Policy in Perspective: Can Theory Explain Behavior?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(4), pages 603-613, November.
    18. Jean Crockett & Irwin Friend, "undated". "Dividend Policy in Perspective: Can Theory Explain Behavior? (Revision of 30-86)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 04-88, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    19. Pattenden, Kerry & Twite, Garry, 2008. "Taxes and dividend policy under alternative tax regimes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, February.
    20. Victor Dragota & Anamaria Ciobanu & Delia Catarama & Andreea Semenescu & Carmen Maria Lacatus, 2009. "Minority Shareholders’ Protection: the Romanian Experience," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 2(02(531)), pages 35-48, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hanaan Yaseen & Ruxandra Trifan, 2019. "The Impact of Dividend Events on Stock Returns: Findings on Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 11(2), pages 59-78, December.
    2. Hanaan Yaseen, . "Does Social Progress Explain the Dividend Payout Decision?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 0.
    3. repec:rfb:journl:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:0077-094 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Hanaan Yaseen, 2018. "Dividend policy and socio-cultural factors: some preliminary findings," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 10(2), pages 077-094, December.
    5. Stela JAKOVA, 2017. "Impact of Dividend Taxation Changing on Dividend Policy of Romanian Companies Listed on Stock Market," Romanian Statistical Review, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 65(3), pages 81-92, September.
    6. Hanaan Yaseen, 2021. "Does Social Progress Explain the Dividend Payout Decision?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2021(1), pages 90-114.

    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. Frankfurter, George M. & Wood, Bob Jr., 2002. "Dividend policy theories and their empirical tests," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 111-138.
    2. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Carina Selander & Magnus Wikstrom, 2009. "Taxation, Dividend Payments and Ex-Day Price-Changes," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 13(1-2), pages 135-154, March-Jun.
    3. du Jardin, Philippe & Séverin, Eric, 2011. "Dividend policy," MPRA Paper 44382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "Dividend Policy inside the Firm," NBER Working Papers 8698, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Randall Morck, 2003. "Why Some Double Taxation Might Make Sense: The Special Case of Inter-corporate Dividends," NBER Working Papers 9651, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Philip Brown & Alex Clarke, 1993. "The Ex-Dividend Day Behaviour of Australian Share Prices Before and After Dividend Imputation," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 18(1), pages 1-40, June.
    7. Bank, Steven & Cheffins, Brian & Goergen, Marc, 2009. "Dividends and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 208-224, June.
    8. Clemens Sialm, 2005. "Tax Changes and Asset Pricing: Time-Series Evidence," NBER Working Papers 11756, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Trevor S. Harris & R. Glenn Hubbard & Deen Kemsley, 1999. "The Share Price Effects of Dividend Taxes and Tax Imputation Credits," NBER Working Papers 7445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Tao Zeng, 2011. "Intercorporate Ownership, Taxes, and Corporate Payout Choices," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 265-283, December.
    11. Harris, Trevor S. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Kemsley, Deen, 2001. "The share price effects of dividend taxes and tax imputation credits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 569-596, March.
    12. Clemens Sialm, 2009. "Tax Changes and Asset Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1356-1383, September.
    13. Dahlquist, Magnus & Robertsson, Göran & Rydqvist, Kristian, 2014. "Direct evidence of dividend tax clienteles," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-12.
    14. Pawan Jain & Quentin Chu, 2014. "Dividend clienteles: a global investigation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 509-534, April.
    15. Hanlon, Michelle & Myers, James N. & Shevlin, Terry, 2003. "Dividend taxes and firm valuation:: a re-examination," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 119-153, June.
    16. Dahlquist, Magnus & Robertsson, Göran & Rydqvist, Kristian, 2007. "Direct Evidence of Dividend Tax Clienteles," SIFR Research Report Series 51, Institute for Financial Research.
    17. William M. Getry & Deen Kemsley & Christopher J. Mayer, 2003. "Dividend Taxes and Share Prices: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 261-282, February.
    18. Rydqvist, Kristian & Dahlquist, Magnus & Robertsson, Göran, 2006. "Direct Evidence of Dividend Tax Clienteles," CEPR Discussion Papers 6005, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Kartal Demirg ne, 2015. "Determinants of Target Dividend Payout Ratio: A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 418-426.
    20. Clemens Sialm, 2006. "Investment Taxes and Equity Returns," NBER Working Papers 12146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    dividend payout; taxation; agency problem; emergent markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rjr:romjef:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:76-93. 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: Corina Saman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipacaro.html .

    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.