Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

1-2019

Abstract

We examine the relation between managers’ personal income tax rates and their corporate investment decisions. Using plausibly exogenous variation in federal and state tax rates, we find a positive relation between managers’ personal tax rates and their corporate risk-taking. Moreover—and consistent with our theoretical predictions—we find that this relation is stronger among firms with investment opportunities that have a relatively high rate of return per unit of risk, and stronger among CEOs who have a relatively low marginal disutility of risk. Importantly, our results are unique to senior managers’ tax rates––we do not find similar relations for middle-income tax rates. Collectively, our findings provide evidence that managers’ personal income taxes influence their corporate risk-taking decisions.

Keywords

Corporate risk-taking, Risky investment, Risk-taking incentives, Personal income taxes, Federal income taxes, State income taxes, Agency conflicts

Discipline

Accounting | Corporate Finance | Taxation

Research Areas

Corporate Governance, Auditing and Risk Management

Publication

Accounting Review

Volume

94

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

24

ISSN

0001-4826

Identifier

10.2308/accr-52193

Publisher

American Accounting Association

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.2308/accr-52193

Share

COinS