Working Paper: NBER ID: w13281
Authors: Mihir A. Desai; Dhammika Dharmapala
Abstract: This paper investigates how taxes influence portfolio choices by exploring the response to the distinctive treatment of foreign dividends in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA). JGTRRA lowered the dividend tax rate to 15% for American equities and extended this tax relief only to foreign corporations from a subset of countries. This paper uses a difference-in-difference analysis that compares US equity holdings in affected and unaffected countries. The international investment responses to JGTRRA were substantial and imply an elasticity of asset holdings with respect to taxes of -1.6. This effect cannot be explained by several potential alternative hypotheses, including differential changes to the preferences of American investors, differential changes in investment opportunities, differential time trends in investment or changed tax evasion behavior.
Keywords: taxes; portfolio choice; JGTRRA; international dividends
JEL Codes: F21; G11; G15; H24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| JGTRRA (Y20) | U.S. equity FPI in treaty countries (F21) |
| JGTRRA (Y20) | U.S. equity FPI in non-treaty countries (F21) |
| U.S. equity FPI in treaty countries (F21) | U.S. equity holdings in treaty countries (F21) |
| Changes in financial market quality (G19) | U.S. equity FPI (F21) |