{"id":{"repo_id":"washington","oai_identifier":"oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/8745"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/washington/oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/8745","repository":{"repo_id":"washington","name":"University of Washington","base_url":"https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Taxes, financial distress, and capital structure in the United States and Japan","abstract":"In Study 1, I examine whether a U.S. firm's proximity to both financial distress and tax exhaustion affects whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. Effective tax planning requires a firm to consider both the tax and non-tax costs of its financing decisions. Financial distress costs are a non-tax cost of debt financing. Prior studies suggest that it is also important to account for a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion when examining whether taxes affect financing decisions. I find that debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields for only non-financially distressed firms. The finding suggests that for financially distressed firms, the costs of financial distress outweigh the tax benefit of debt. The results also suggest that a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion does not affect the relation between debt and non-debt tax shields.In Study 2, I examine whether a Japanese firm's proximity to financial distress, keiretsu membership, and proximity to tax exhaustion affect whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. If financial distress costs are lower for keiretsu firms, financial distress should have a smaller effect on their financing decisions when compared to non-keiretsu firms, ceteris paribus. I find that debt is positively related to non-debt tax shields, regardless of financial distress, keiretsu membership, and tax exhaustion. Before concluding, I investigate explanations for why I find a positive relation in Japan; I also discuss explanations for why the results are inconsistent with prior studies that do find a negative relation.","abstract_html":"In Study 1, I examine whether a U.S. firm's proximity to both financial distress and tax exhaustion affects whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. Effective tax planning requires a firm to consider both the tax and non-tax costs of its financing decisions. Financial distress costs are a non-tax cost of debt financing. Prior studies suggest that it is also important to account for a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion when examining whether taxes affect financing decisions. I find that debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields for only non-financially distressed firms. The finding suggests that for financially distressed firms, the costs of financial distress outweigh the tax benefit of debt. The results also suggest that a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion does not affect the relation between debt and non-debt tax shields.In Study 2, I examine whether a Japanese firm's proximity to financial distress, keiretsu membership, and proximity to tax exhaustion affect whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. If financial distress costs are lower for keiretsu firms, financial distress should have a smaller effect on their financing decisions when compared to non-keiretsu firms, ceteris paribus. I find that debt is positively related to non-debt tax shields, regardless of financial distress, keiretsu membership, and tax exhaustion. Before concluding, I investigate explanations for why I find a positive relation in Japan; I also discuss explanations for why the results are inconsistent with prior studies that do find a negative relation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tanimura, Joseph Kiyoshi"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2001,"date_issued":"2001","date_published":"2001","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:57:57Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the individual authors."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["b46292160","48511103","Thesis 50594"],"render_values":[{"text":"b46292160","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"48511103","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"Thesis 50594","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8745","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tanimura, Joseph Kiyoshi"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2009-10-06T22:32:33Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2009-10-06T22:32:33Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2001"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright is held by the individual authors."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["b46292160","48511103","Thesis 50594"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8745"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In Study 1, I examine whether a U.S. firm's proximity to both financial distress and tax exhaustion affects whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. Effective tax planning requires a firm to consider both the tax and non-tax costs of its financing decisions. Financial distress costs are a non-tax cost of debt financing. Prior studies suggest that it is also important to account for a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion when examining whether taxes affect financing decisions. I find that debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields for only non-financially distressed firms. The finding suggests that for financially distressed firms, the costs of financial distress outweigh the tax benefit of debt. The results also suggest that a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion does not affect the relation between debt and non-debt tax shields.In Study 2, I examine whether a Japanese firm's proximity to financial distress, keiretsu membership, and proximity to tax exhaustion affect whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. If financial distress costs are lower for keiretsu firms, financial distress should have a smaller effect on their financing decisions when compared to non-keiretsu firms, ceteris paribus. I find that debt is positively related to non-debt tax shields, regardless of financial distress, keiretsu membership, and tax exhaustion. Before concluding, I investigate explanations for why I find a positive relation in Japan; I also discuss explanations for why the results are inconsistent with prior studies that do find a negative relation."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Taxes, financial distress, and capital structure in the United States and Japan"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Tanimura, Joseph Kiyoshi"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2009-10-06T22:32:33Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-10-06T22:32:33Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2001"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001"],"dc:description.abstract":["In Study 1, I examine whether a U.S. firm's proximity to both financial distress and tax exhaustion affects whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. Effective tax planning requires a firm to consider both the tax and non-tax costs of its financing decisions. Financial distress costs are a non-tax cost of debt financing. Prior studies suggest that it is also important to account for a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion when examining whether taxes affect financing decisions. I find that debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields for only non-financially distressed firms. The finding suggests that for financially distressed firms, the costs of financial distress outweigh the tax benefit of debt. The results also suggest that a firm's proximity to tax exhaustion does not affect the relation between debt and non-debt tax shields.In Study 2, I examine whether a Japanese firm's proximity to financial distress, keiretsu membership, and proximity to tax exhaustion affect whether debt is negatively related to non-debt tax shields. If financial distress costs are lower for keiretsu firms, financial distress should have a smaller effect on their financing decisions when compared to non-keiretsu firms, ceteris paribus. I find that debt is positively related to non-debt tax shields, regardless of financial distress, keiretsu membership, and tax exhaustion. Before concluding, I investigate explanations for why I find a positive relation in Japan; I also discuss explanations for why the results are inconsistent with prior studies that do find a negative relation."],"dc:identifier.other":["b46292160","48511103","Thesis 50594"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8745"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:rights":["Copyright is held by the individual authors."],"dc:title":["Taxes, financial distress, and capital structure in the United States and Japan"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:57:57Z"}