The Effect of Capital Gains Tax Policy Changes on Long-Term Investments
55 Pages Posted: 16 May 2019
Date Written: May 6, 2019
Abstract
Pressure from short-horizon investors can hurt investments in innovative, long-run value increasing projects. We explore the efficacy of a commonly proposed tax-based policy tool to mitigate this problem: imposition of greater taxes on short-term capital gains relative to long-term capital gains. Using a panel of 30 OECD countries and 21 capital gains tax shocks over 1991-2006, we find that rewarding longer-term ownership through lower capital gains taxes results in an increase in corporate innovation. The evidence should be of interest to lawmakers and regulators and also adds to our understanding of the real effects of taxation of investor trading activity.
Keywords: capital gains taxes, real effects, myopia, investment, short termism, innovation
JEL Classification: G38, H20, H24, O31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Register to save articles to
your library
