I investigate the impact of statutory tax rates on U.S. firms' environmental performance. Prior literature emphasizes the effect of manager influence on the relation between tax avoidance and environmental activities. However, it is unclear how taxes imposed on a firm impact environmental performance. Firms subject to higher statutory tax rates experience more restricted cash flows. As such, higher statutory tax rates may limit managers' ability to address environmental concerns. Firms that experience higher statutory tax rates may not prioritize environmental efforts, which are often non-essential to a firm's operations, despite government incentives. Alternatively, higher tax rates may encourage firms to address environmental concerns due to the tax shield that these expenses provide and the relatively lower cost to shareholders. Observing tax rate variation at the state level, I find higher state tax rates are associated with weaker environmental performance. My study contributes to regulators' understanding of the interaction between tax policy and firms' abilities to address their environmental impact. / Doctor of Philosophy / I investigate the impact of statutory state income tax rates on U.S. firms' environmental performance. Firms subject to higher tax rates experience more restricted cash flows. As such, higher tax rates may limit managers' ability to address environmental concerns. Alternatively, higher tax rates may encourage firms to address environmental concerns due to the tax write off that these expenses provide. Observing tax rate variation at the state level, I find higher state tax rates are associated with weaker environmental performance. My study contributes to regulators' understanding of the interaction between tax policy and firms' abilities to address their environmental impact.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/120624 |
| Date | 09 July 2024 |
| Creators | Meersman, James Elliot |
| Contributors | Business, Accounting and Information Systems, Davidson, Robert H., Acito, Andrew A., Chakravarti, Dipankar, Lisic, Ling Lei |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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