关键词: 企业所得税, 减税, 杠杆率

Abstract:

This paper makes an empirical study on the effect of tax reduction on corporate leverage ratio by using the natural experiment of “Two Taxes Merging” of corporateincome tax in 2008 and the data of Chinese industrial enterprise database. Our findings are as follows. First, the tax reduction of corporate income tax reduces the enterprises’ debt ratio significantly. Second, tax cuts will lead to the rising of corporate debt as time evolves. Third, the impact of tax cut on corporate debt ratio presents heterogeneity among enterprises. That is, tax cut reduces the debt ratio of light industrial enterprises and non-export enterprises, and increases the debt ratio of heavy industry enterprises and export enterprises. Forth, the corporate income tax reform affects the corporate debt ratio mainly through enterprises with high initial debt ratio. Finally, the mechanism test shows the mechanism of “tax cut→increasing fixed asset investment→increasing leverage ratio”. This study suggests that in the supply-side structural reform, the government should pay attention to the strategy and precision of tax cut to achieve the incentive compatibility between tax cut and deleveraging.

Key words: Corporate Income Tax, Tax Cuts, Leverage Ratio