The Influence of Firm Maturation on Tax-Induced Financing and Investment Decisions

Abstract

Empirical evidence that taxes influence firms' capital structures has been elusive. Scholes and Wolfson (1989) argue that refinancing costs that accumulate with age affect the time-series variation in firms' tax-induced financing and investment policies. Specifically, they predict that as capital structures gradually become more constrained over time, firms' financing decisions will become less sensitive to their marginal tax rates; and that as firms are increasingly impeded from adjusting their capital structures, they will resort to relying more on investmentrelated tax shields. This study examines panel data spanning firms' first nine public years that provides strong, robust evidence that the evolution in debt and asset tax shields is consistent with Scholes and Wolfson's (1989) predictions. In separate tests, age is measured from a firm's initial public offering and from its incorporation to consider whether the duration of their public and private existence, respectively, affects tax shield choice.