Taxing Share Repurchases

Some U.S. politicians advocate policy to inhibit share repurchases. We can learn from corporate reaction to such a new policy in India. The Indian federal government recently levied a 20 percent tax, plus surcharge, on share repurchases. We show that companies did not slow down their share repurchase initiation. However, to offset the added taxes, they increased their capital investment. The combination of the share repurchase and capital investment decreased their free cash flow