The composite dividend tax rate
研究了股息带来的杠杆税收收益如何影响公司股息政策，发现股息随名义税率下降、随杠杆税收收益上升，且复合税率比传统指标更能解释股息行为。
Dividends often impose taxes on investors. However, as certain prior financial models indicate, they also can produce a tax gain from leverage. Hence the composite marginal dividend tax rate can be specified as the nominal rate minus the offsetting tax gain from leverage. Although this principle has been embedded in theoretical models for more than 40 years, no prior study has examined empirically whether the dividend-induced tax gain from leverage influences dividend policy. We address this empirical void and find dividends decrease in the nominal dividend tax rate and increase in the offsetting tax gain from leverage. In addition, we find the composite tax rate outperforms traditional measures in explaining dividend policy for our full sample of firms. Consistent with prior theory, we also find the composite rate varies in influence according to the financing source for a dividend.