Taxation, Dividend Payments and Ex-Day Price-Changes

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to study the effect of taxation on dividend payments and ex-dividend price-changes in Sweden during 1991-1995. Tax changes in Sweden during the 1990s were implemented in such a way that they provide an opportunity to include direct measures of the tax-treatment of dividends and capital gains in the empirical analysis, in contrast to previous studies. The results indicate that tax-reforms can have large effects on dividend payments, while the effects on ex-dividend price-changes are less conclusive.