Capital Gains and Dividend Taxes in Firm Valuation: Evidence of Triple Taxation
在剩余收益估值模型中加入股东层面的资本利得税和股息税，发现投资者在估值时隐含地考虑了这些税，导致留存收益面临公司税、股息税和资本利得税三重征税，而支付股息可消除资本利得税层，为股东带来净财富收益。
Although firms account for entity-level taxes, they do not account for shareholder-level capital gains and dividend taxes. To account for these proprietary-level taxes, we add them to a residual-income equity valuation model. Empirical analysis supports the model's predictions. First, both capital gains and dividend taxes reduce investors' implicit valuation of the reinvested portion of earnings. Second, dividend taxes reduce the valuation of the portion of earnings distributed as dividends, but capital gains taxes do not. Third, dividend taxes reduce the valuation of retained earnings equity, but again, capital gains taxes do not. These findings suggest that investors implicitly extend entity-level accounting to the proprietary level when they value the firm. The findings also suggest that when fully accounting for the effects of implicit dividend taxes, reinvested earnings appear to be subject to three levels of taxation—corporate, dividend, and capital gains taxes. Paying earnings out as dividends eliminates the capital gains layer of tax and may provide a net wealth benefit for shareholders, rather than a tax penalty as commonly assumed.