Economic integration and mobility of capital have set the ground for a significant competition over resources. Tax competition for internationally mobile tax bases such as foreign direct investments has become an important matter of study. Nevertheless, literature has focused on a regional or geographical neighboring condition competition through taxes. This dissertation aims to test whether tax competition for foreign direct investment has changed its regional characteristic towards a global or world-wide competition. Global or world-wide tax competition can be thought of as uncooperative tax policy reactions between governments of different countries of the world not necessarily near each other geographically, but in similar economic conditions and with the purpose to influence the allocation of mobile tax bases world-wide. For the purpose of this study, export oriented foreign capital investment was referred to as the internationally mobile tax base. A theoretical model was constructed allowing for three countries, geographical distance, transportation costs, labor and technology skills, as well as four types of individuals: workers, capitalists, and two types of entrepreneurs. Optimal corporate statutory and average effective tax rates were obtained in order to serve as reaction functions between governments and evaluate the presence of tax competition. A spatial econometric model was used to estimate the empirical approximation of the theoretical model. Four types of weight matrixes were computed: homogeneous weights, similar economic conditions, similar transportation costs from the FDI host country to the FDI home country, and neighboring conditions of FDI host countries. The sample covered 53 countries from different areas of the world from 1984 to 2002. Regarding the data, several variables were constructed, among those: the corporate average effective tax rate. The statutory corporate tax rate was discarded since it misses important factors for capital investment such as tax holidays and depreciation schedules. The principal result suggests that countries from the sample appear to behave in a tax competitive way not only in geographical neighboring terms but also in a global or world-wide approach. In fact, countries appear to compete in a stronger way in global or world-wide terms than when assuming a regional or neighboring condition.

This thesis investigates the impact that the corporate income tax rate has on inflows offoreign direct investment (FDI) in high-income OECD countries during the periods1998-2006. The thesis has a small focus on Sweden and how this country’s policies canaffect inward FDI. Moreover, the determinants of FDI are analyzed in order to build amodel that allows to see the influence that the statutory corporate income tax rate has onthese countries. OLS regressions are used to find the degree to which certain variables,specifically the corporate tax rate, have an impact of the dependent variable (i.e.aggregate inflows of FDI). The independent variables are: GDP, skilled labour, labourcosts, economic freedom as a proxy for trade openness and property rights,infrastructure, the corporate income tax rate, dummy variables to account for timeeffects and three dummy variables for continental location targeting whethergeographical location is of relevance of not.It is concluded that the corporate income tax rate does have a significant impact on FDIinflows in OECD members for the specified period. Additionally, economic freedom,gdp and geographical location are also found to be important variables that determinethe inflows of FDI. Other variables are found insignificant in almost all regressions.

In the past decade, there has been a significant decrease in US corporate tax revenues. Multinational companies have been employing several different techniques of tax avoidance to get around paying corporate taxes. Tax avoidance is used by any large multinational corporation for a variety of reasons. The US has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world and is seeing many companies relocate their operations abroad to lower their tax expenses. The different methods of tax avoidance are discussed in this thesis, as well as the different reasons behind their use. To understand how companies implement tax avoidance techniques, it is necessary to understand US corporate taxes. I have researched the few key items of US corporate taxes, which are vital to understanding the implementation of tax avoidance techniques. Through different examples you will see how tax avoidance occurs and how it benefits multinational companies.

The modern capital structure theory attempts to determine an optimal capital structure on the maximum shareholder¡¦s wealth. In practice, it is very difficult to find an optimal capital structure. Nevertheless, the dynamic capital structure model can simulate an optimal capital structure by Monte Carlo approach. Therefore, this study begin at the opinion of sales revenue and modifies the model of Goldstein, Ju and Leland(1998). Firstly, using the model to simulate the optimality of capital structures about traditional and high-tech industries of Taiwan. Secondly, the impacts of industry characteristic¡Bfirm size¡Bgrowth¡Bprofitability¡Boperating risk and dividend policy on the optimal capital structure are also analyzed. Meanwhile, to investigate the effect of implementation of the integration of individual and corporate taxes on the firm value¡Bdividend policy and capital structure. There are some conclusions in this study. The simulate results indicate that the leverage ratio of traditional industry is higher than that of high-tech industry. Firm size and growth are positively associated with debt ratio. The profitability and dividend yield are negatively associated with debt ratio. But operating risk and debt ratio have curve relation. The traditional industry trends to optimal static capital structure strategy. But high-tech industry is toward optimal upward dynamic capital structure strategy. The higher corporate tax rate, the higher firm value is. The shareholder¡¦s individual tax rate and the tax rate on the retained earnings with firm value are negatively relation. So the extent of how tax reform affects firm value depends on the shareholder¡¦s individual tax rate. According to the model, debt ratio should decrease. The empirical result for the high technology industry has satisfied the theoretical prediction. However, the increase of the debt ratios of firms in the traditional industry indicates that industry framework is changed for higher equity cost. Therefore, the resource of firm funds will be by debt policy. Dividend payment will increase after the implementation of the integration of individual and corporate taxes. The more dividend pay out, the lower firm value is. So it consists with tax-effect hypothesis. Finally, this study derives the valuation model of dynamic capital structure. The simulate results are consistent with research hypothesis. That can advise managers to revise capital structure and to make dividend policy.

This dissertation consists of three essays investigating questions of politics and policy. The first essay proposes an index that assigns probabilities to all majority coalitions. This index takes as inputs the seat shares and policy positions of the parties represented in parliament. In addition to providing coalition probabilities, it has some desirable properties lacking from the commonly used concept of the minimum-connected winning coalition. In an empirical test, the proposed index slightly outperforms the predictions generated by this standard concept. Furthermore, the probabilities generated by the index are shown to be empirically meaningful. The second essay proposes a model of voter decision-making in proportional representation systems: ultra-rational strategic voters construct expectations of coalitions and policy outcomes based on expected seat distributions and attributed policy positions and vote to maximize their expected utility. The predictions of the model are examined using data from the Netherlands and successfully predict the voting behavior of significant numbers of voters. Nevertheless, other factors matter more than the strategic prediction. Three main take-aways follow: (1) At least to some extent, voters seem to take complex coalition considerations into account. (2) There is a need for large-scale qualitative studies about voter decision-making in proportional representation systems. (3) Narrowly defined strategic voting might matter less in proportional representation systems than in plurality systems. The third essay presents new data on effective corporate income tax rates in 85 countries in 2004. The data come from a survey, conducted jointly with the World Bank’s Doing Business unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers, of all taxes imposed on "the same" standardized mid-size domestic firm. In a cross-section of countries, the estimates of the effective corporate tax rate have a large adverse impact on aggregate investment, FDI, and entrepreneurial activity. Corporate tax rates are correlated with investment in manufacturing but not services, as well as with the size of the informal economy. The results are robust to the inclusion of many controls.

This thesis is concerned with effective rates of corporate income taxes in EU in 2011. The aim is comparison of effective rates of corporate income taxes in different sectors of particular states - EU members, measured by real effective tax rate. Another aim is comparison real effective rate od EU corporations with implicite corporate tax rates and uncover, whether the level of real effective tax rate and implicite tax rate depends on GDP in % EU-28, inflation, size of the company, research and development costs, or depreciation of machinery and buildings. Differences in real effective tax rate do exist not only in between EU members, but also in different sectors. Values of implicite tax rate in different countries differ in 2011. Analysis results show, that the only mutual factor, which influences value of real effective tax and implicite tax rates is size of the company. When talking about implicite tax rate, dependence on other factors is not approved. Moreover, real effective corporate tax rate is influenced by GDP in % EU-28, as well as research and development costs. Inflation rate and depreciation time of machinery and buildings are factors, that show no connection between both surveyed taxes. Increase relation betwee real and implicite corporate taxes rate is proved.

我國過去之所得稅制乃是採營利事業所得稅與個人所得稅並行之制度，此種對股利所得的重複課稅，扭曲了企業籌措財源的方式，使得公司傾向於以舉債的方式籌措資金，並扭曲了企業盈餘分配之決策、造成稅法之複雜性及稅務行政的複雜化。在經過政府及相關部門多年來之努力，我國於民國八十七年一月一日起正式實施兩稅合一新制。本文之目的即在藉由探討兩稅合一之各相關事件日股票異常報酬之變化，以觀察台灣股票市場對新稅制的反應，實證結果可供未來修正或訂定類似政策參考。 為探究兩稅合一之各相關事件日股票異常報酬變化之產生原因，本研究檢定公司有效稅率、盈餘保留率及股東個人邊際稅率是否足以解釋各相關事件日之股票異常報酬。實證結果顯示，公司有效稅率確會影響各相關事件日之股票異常報酬，且與本研究所預期之方向相同，為正相關，顯示市場也認為在兩稅合一之下，預期有效稅率愈高的公司，其因為兩稅合一所得到的利益也會愈大。但在盈餘保留率及股東個人邊際效率方面，卻無法獲得滿意的實證結果，其可能原因有二：第一，歷史資料可能無法有效替代預期之保留盈餘比率。第二，董監持股比率可能無法有效作為股東個人邊際稅率之替代變數。 / The major deficiency of Taiwan's past tax system was that the business income was taxed twice: once at the corporate level and once at the individual level. This system significantly distorts companies' financing strategies, and companies tend to get the needed fund by issuing bonds. Besides, it also distorts the way companies allocate their earnings and causes taxes and tax-related administrations to be very complicated. However, after great efforts made by the Department of Treasury since 1996, the new tax system-"Integrating individual and corporate taxes" became effective from the beginning of 1998. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the market reactions to the new system by studying the variations of the abcdrmal returns of stock prices at event days related to this new tax system. The empirical results could be used for amendments or the making of similar policies in the future. To study reasons that variations of abcdrmal returns of stock prices at the event days of this new tax system exist, this study tests weather Corporate Tax Rate, Retention Rate of Earnings and Individual Tax Rate can explain the abcdrmal returns of stock prices at the related event days. Empirical results show that Corporate Tax Rate affects the abcdrmal returns of stock prices at the related event days, and the direction is the same as expected, which is positive-correlated. The result shows that "the market" also thinks under the new tax system, the higher the expected Corporate Tax Rate, the higher the benefit from the new tax system will be. However, for the Retention Rate of Earnings and the Individual Tax Rate, the results are unsatisfactory. Two reasons are possible: first, historical data probably cannot represent the expected Retention Rate of Earnings. Second, the ratio that stocks held by members of board of directors is not a good proxy for the Individual Tax Rate effectively.

In my diploma thesis, I deal with an issue of effective corporate tax rates. The effective tax rate expresses the real tax burden of companies. The effective tax rate is different from the statutory tax rate due to the impact of tax legislation. The aim of my diploma thesis is to analyze the impact of changes in legislation on the level of effective tax rate for companies divided by size and for companies divided by industry. The first chapter describes the crisis in the world and its consequences on taxation in the Czech Republic. In the second chapter I analyze the impact of legislative changes on the level of effective tax rate during the monitored period, i.e. in the years 2006-2016. The third chapter deals with the classification of methods of calculating effective tax rates. In the last chapter, I analyze the impact of changes in legislation on the development of effective tax rates for companies divided by size and for companies divided by industry.

La tesi si focalizza sull'analisi dell'impatto della tassazione sulle scelte finanziarie delle imprese. nella prima parte dal lavoro viene presentata una review della letteratura teorica di riferimento. Successivamente vengono effettuate due diverse analisi empiriche finalizzate a spiegare quali siano le determinanti della politica di indebitamento e dei dividendi di imprese quotate dell'Area Euro e come esse si siano modificate dopo l'introduzione della moneta unica. / This research is implemented to investigate on the impact of taxation on corporate financial decisions. In particular two main financial policies are considered: the capital structure policy and the payout policy. This corporate dimensions are investigated making use of empirical approaches on Euro-firms data to investigate also on the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the same issues.

依據財務會計理論，附註揭露為整體財務報表的一部份，其目的在提供投資人進行企業評價時所需之攸關資訊。兩稅合一制度實施後，不僅使稅賦型態轉變，會計原則中也新增附註揭露股東可扣抵稅額之規定，因此提供了驗證資本市場與財務報表揭露的機會，本研究即針對股東可扣抵稅揭露是否具有價值攸關性進行測試。 本研究以87年為樣本年度，分析資料完整的317家上市公司，透過Ohlson模型來檢測股東可扣抵稅額之價值攸關性，並處理Ohlson模型中兩個重要的information dynamics，以異常盈餘（xa ）及其他資訊（v）做為模型中的自變數，將財務分析師之財務預測（analysts’forecasts）做為Ohlson模型中其他資訊（other information）之代理變數，以捕捉Ohlson模型中其他資訊對股價的影響。最後，考慮產業及公司規模兩項因素，觀察紡織業與電子業對股東可扣抵稅額揭露之反應以及公司規模對於價值攸關性研究的影響。 實驗結果顯示，無論以現金基礎或應計基礎衡量股東可扣抵稅額，其揭露均具價值攸關性，投資人的確使用財務報表附註揭露中有關股東可扣抵稅額之資訊於企業評價上。其次，異常盈餘與其他資訊皆能捕捉股價之變動。最後，在紡織業與電子業中雖未觀察到股東可扣抵稅額之揭露具有攸關性，但公司規模的因素則無論在全體樣本或各別產業中皆具影響力。 / According to modern accouning theory, footnote disclosures are an intergrated part of the overall financial statements. The purpose of footnote disclosures is to provide value-relevant information in assisting investors’ valuation process. After Taiwan’s 1998 Tax Reform, which intergrates the individual and corporate taxes, the current GAAP requires a footnote disclosure of imputation credits (IC). This provides a good chance to test how Taiwan’s stock market reacts to such disclosuer. The main purpose of this study is to examine the value relevance of IC disclosure to investors’ equity valuation. This study uses Ohlson’s (1995) model to analyze 317 firms listed on Taiwan’s Stock Exchang (TSE) during 1998. To estimate the abcdrmal earings and other information (captured by analysts’ forcasts), this study adopts Dechow, Hutton, and Sloan’s(1999) methodology. We also investigate the effects of industry and firm size on the value relevance of IC disclosure. The empirical results reveal three findings. First, there is a positive association between IC and stock price in TSE. Therefore, the IC disclosure is value relevant to investors’ equity valuation. Second, abcdmal earnings and other information can both explain stock price behavior. Finally, when we focus our sample on the textile and high-tech industries, no significant association between IC disclosure and stock price can be found. When we further consider firm size, however, the value relevance of IC disclosure becomes significant. In other word, the value relevance of IC disclosure may be affected by firm size.