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State ownership, tax status and size effect of effective tax rate in China

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  • Liansheng Wu
  • Yaping Wang
  • Wei Luo
  • Paul Gillis

Abstract

Political cost theory and political power theory are two views on the effect of firm size on effective tax rate (ETR) in extant literature. The size effect of ETR can be investigated further by focusing on the relationship between firms and the government. This paper uses state ownership and tax status to capture this relationship and examines how firm size, state ownership and tax status jointly affect effective tax rates. It is found that, when firms do not enjoy a preferential tax status, firm size is positively associated with effective tax rates for privately controlled firms and negatively associated for state-controlled firms. The results show that political cost theory explains the relationship between size and effective tax rate for privately controlled firms, whereas political power theory explains this relationship for state-controlled firms. For those firms that already enjoy a preferential tax status, there is no significant relationship between their size and their tax burdens.

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  • Liansheng Wu & Yaping Wang & Wei Luo & Paul Gillis, 2012. "State ownership, tax status and size effect of effective tax rate in China," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 97-114, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:42:y:2012:i:2:p:97-114
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2012.628208
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    Cited by:

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    2. Richardson, Grant & Wang, Bei & Zhang, Xinmin, 2016. "Ownership structure and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from publicly listed private firms in China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 141-158.
    3. Francisco J. Delgado & Elena Fernández-Rodríguez & Roberto García-Fernández & Manuel Landajo & Antonio Martínez-Arias, 2023. "Tax avoidance and earnings management: a neural network approach for the largest European economies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Zhiying Hu & Haiyan Yang & Yuyu Zhang & Jenny Jing Wang, 2023. "Does common auditor have an impact on corporate tax avoidance? An investigation from the supply chain perspective," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 575-629, March.
    5. Wang, Changrong & Richardson, Grant & Cao, Yanming, 2024. "Long live the walking dead? Corporate tax avoidance and zombie firms in China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    6. Nindhita Nisrina Sari & Siti Nuryanah, 2024. "The role of shareholders in controlling tax avoidance: evidence from ASEAN countries," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 421-432, September.
    7. Belz, Thomas & von Hagen, Dominik & Steffens, Christian, 2019. "Taxes and firm size: Political cost or political power?," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-28.
    8. Yu.E. Labunets & I.A. Mayburov, 2020. "Relationship of Tax Burden and Firm Size in the Timber Industry in Russia," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 19(4), pages 458-487.
    9. Kunpeng Zhang & Yibei Guo & Xiaotian Hu, 2024. "Does Tax Sharing Matter for Export Quality Upgrading? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-20, June.
    10. Elena Fernández-Rodríguez & Roberto García-Fernández & Antonio Martínez-Arias, 2019. "Influence of Ownership Structure on the Determinants of Effective Tax Rates of Spanish Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Li, Xiaoxia & Cai, Guilong & Luo, Danglun, 2020. "GDP distortion and tax avoidance in local SOEs: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 582-598.
    12. Tao Zeng, 2017. "Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance and Aggressive Tax‐Reporting Activities: Evidence from Canada," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 345-369, December.
    13. Long, Wenbin & Wu, Huiying & Li, Lidan & Ying, Sammy Xiaoyan & Li, Sihai, 2024. "Mixed-ownership structure, non-state-blockholder coalition, and tax avoidance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Leung, Sidney C.M. & Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley, 2019. "The effect of the general anti-avoidance rule on corporate tax avoidance in China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 105-117.
    15. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2020. "Related Party Transactions, State Ownership, the Cost of Corporate Debt, and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints y5qj3, Center for Open Science.

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