Do tax aggressive executives influence corporate philanthropy?

This study examines whether personally tax aggressive executives pursue corporate philanthropy. Relative to a control group, corporate philanthropy increases by 3.0 percent, on average, following personal tax aggression events by executives. Put another way, every $1 of personal tax gain by executives is associated with $2.01 of corporate resources spent on corporate philanthropy. Further analyses suggest that the positive association between corporate philanthropy and executive-level tax aggression is consistent with a behavioral theory. In an environment where a social norm for paying a “fair share” of taxes exists, personally tax aggressive executives might experience disutility from violating the social norm, leading them to engage in compensatory activities to mitigate disutility. Consistent with this idea, personally tax aggressive executives pursue greater corporate philanthropy, presumably to “cleanse” themselves of such tax-related disutility.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Accountancy

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Jang, Hansol

Contributors dc:contributor

• Donohoe, Michael
• Elliott, W. Brooke
• Irani, Rustom
• Sougiannis, Theodore

• tax aggressiveness, executives, corporate philanthropy

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Hansol Jang

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107909

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/107909