Recent empirical studies of dividend taxation have found that: (1) dividend tax cuts cause large, immediate increases … in dividend payouts, and (2) the increases are driven by firms with high levels of shareownership among top executives or … of dividend taxation. We propose a simple alternative theory of dividend taxation in which managers and shareholders have …

This paper investigates the effects of capital gains and dividend taxes on excess returns around announcements of … dividend increases and ex-dividend days for U.S. corporations. Consistent with standard no-arbitrage conditions, we find that … the ex-dividend day premium increased from 2002 to 2004 when the dividend tax rate was cut. Consistent with the signalling …

Recent empirical studies of dividend taxation have found that: (1) dividend tax cuts cause large, immediate increases … in dividend payouts, and (2) the increases are driven by firms with high levels of shareownership among top executives or … the board of directors. These findings are inconsistent with existing "old view" and "new view" theories of dividend …