The efficacy of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts was a major topic of discussion in the 2010 midterm elections. I investigate the effect of the possible expiration and eventual extension of the dividend tax cut on US stock market performance in 2010 based on the methodology used by Amronin, Harrison and Sharpe (2008). I compare aggregate performance of US common stocks relative to foreign stocks using equity indices, and examine cross-sectional performance amongst US stocks by creating different stock portfolios based on their dividend yield. This comparison is done over two event windows, (1) 20-24 September 2010 and (2) 3-8 December 2010. Consistent with previous studies, I find that the US stock market did respond to negative and positive news on the extension of the Bush-era dividend tax cuts, with stock prices falling and rising, respectively. My findings also suggest that this aggregate effect was probably muted by the redistribution of funds by investors from lower-yield to higher-yield stocks. Unlike in 2003, however, in the post-financial crisis context of 2010, the redistribution seemed to particularly favor stocks with medium-dividend yield, rather than smaller, higher-risk stocks with the highest dividend yield.

This study addresses the question of whether the relation between investor-level taxes and a firm's capital structure decisions varies predictably with financial constraints. Using the setting of the 2003 reduction in individual tax rates for ordinary income, dividends, and capital gains, this study documents that constrained firms decrease their debt use in response to the 2003 tax cuts, while unconstrained firms increase their debt use over the same period. I find these effects are only evident among firms with relatively high individual ownership, which is the group of firms that theory suggests will react to the tax cuts. This paper contributes to the literature on how investor-level taxes influence firms' financing decisions as well as the literature pertaining to the 2003 Tax Act.

Although much research on corporate dividend policy exists, the evidence is far from conclusive. Understanding how dividend taxes affect firm-level decisions is crucial to evaluating dividend imputation credits which provide shareholder-level tax credits for dividends received or decreased shareholder-level dividend tax rates, which reduce the double taxation of dividends. Using changes in New Zealand and Australia’s tax regimes, this dissertation provides new evidence on the relationship between tax incentives for R&D investment and dividend payment. The results show that the theory that the tension between R&D investment and dividend payment decreases when a country previously not offering tax incentives for R&D investment or dividend payout, implements one, does not hold using New Zealand firms. Further, New Zealand dividend-paying firms with higher marginal tax rates behave in the manner predicted for firms moving from a tax regime offering a tax incentive for R&D investment to a tax regime offering tax incentives for both R&D investment and dividend payment. The results using Australian data, demonstrate that that the tension between R&D investment and dividend payment increases when a country previously offering only a tax incentives for R&D investment, offers one for both R&D investment and dividend payment. This result is driven by firms with high marginal tax rates. These findings demonstrate that the relationship between tax incentives for R&D investment and dividend payment varies according to firm marginal tax rates and typical dividend payment policies. It also reiterates the importance of considering firms’ abilities to use R&D tax incentives, via their marginal tax rates, when contemplating the effects a shareholder-level dividend tax decrease will have on R&D investment. This dissertation also provides new insight into the corporate dividend policy views. The results support the double taxation and tax irrelevance views in dividend-paying firms operating in a tax regime with dividend imputation and capital gains taxes. By documenting a significant decrease in R&D investment after a change in dividend taxes, this dissertation also highlights a void in the current corporate dividend policy views and shows the need for the inclusion of R&D investment.