The effect of the 2006 tax reform on the companies' capital structure

Abstract

This paper investigates the interrelationship between leverage and ownership concentration in the case of Norwegian non-listed firms while considering the effects of the 2006 Norwegian tax reform. This paper finds that the tax reform had a negative impact on leverage and a positive impact on ownership concentration. In addition, there is a bidirectional positive relationship between leverage and ownership concentration and the effect of leverage on ownership concentration is bigger than the effect of ownership concentration on leverage. The positive sign of this relationship can be explained through the role that the firm control may play in deciding the financing policy: firms may prefer to issue debt instead of equity if issuing equity means sharing or losing control. Leverage is positively related with tangibility and firm size and negatively related with profitability. Ownership concentration is positively related with profitability and tangibility and negatively related with firm size.