Changes in corporate capital structures and investment in response to tax incentives in the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.

Abstract

This study examines the empirical reactions of major U.S. corporations to cost recovery tax incentives contained in the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. The major provision of the act, that is relevant to this study, increases the rate of cost recovery on new investment placed in service after 1980. The purpose of the study is to determine if the empirical responses of the firms to these tax incentives are consistent with recent extensions to financial economic theory. The relevant theory predicts that firms will be sensitive to changes in statutory rates of cost recovery, and they will react to increases in rates of cost recovery in two ways. First, they will respond by increasing their level of investment in covered assets. Second, they will manage the level of their total tax deductions by offsetting (to some extent) the increased level of investment-related deductions with reductions in the level of other tax shields (particularly debt-related deductions). The evidence that is examined is largely consistent with the predictions of the theory. The pattern of growth across firms in the immediate years after the implementation of the act is congruent with tax-sponsored increases in investment. Further, the increase in the available investment-related tax deductions appears to be offset in part by decreases in the level of the debt-related deductions.