税制改革、工资跨期转移与公司价值

Tax Reform, Intertemporal Wage Shifting and Corporate Value

税收是影响公司薪酬契约订立和执行的重要因素。截至目前,学术界已有大量研究表明税收会影响公司薪酬契约形式的选择,然而关于税收与薪酬契约时间选择的问题还较少被学者们关注。鉴于此,本文以我国2008年企业所得税改革为契机,检验计税工资限额扣除政策取消是否会引起工资的跨期转移行为,在此基础上,进一步检验工资跨期转移的影响因素和经济后果。实证检验结果表明:在新税法实施前后相邻的两个季度(2007年第4季度和2008年第1季度)之间,受计税工资限额扣除政策取消影响,公司存在显著的推迟支付工资现象;该现象在税率较高、经营活动现金流水平较低、规模较大以及成长性较强的公司中更为明显,另外,非国有企业推迟工资现象比国有企业更为明显;资本市场对计税工资制改革引起的工资推迟行为给予了正面反应,工资推迟行为显著地提高了公司价值。本文的研究发现不仅提供了税收与薪酬契约时间选择方面的经验证据,填补了该领域的研究空白,而且还对税制改革的政策效果评价有重要的参考价值。

Tax is an important factor that affects the forms and execution of compensation contracts. By now, large numbers of studies have shown that tax can affect the choice of the forms of compensation contracts. However, the issue on the relationship between tax and the timing of compensation is less studied by scholars. In view of this, this paper examines whether the cancellation of wage deduction limit will cause intertemporal wage shifting during the corporate tax reform act of 2008 in China. Further, this paper examines the determinants and economic consequences of the intertemporal wage shifting. Empirical results suggest that due to the cancellation of wage deduction limit after the tax reform,corporates significantly deferred wage between the adjacent quarters before and after the tax reform(i.e. the fourth quarter in 2007 and the first quarter in 2008); this phenomenon was more obvious among corporations with higher tax rate,lower level of cash flows from operating activities, larger scale, and higher growth ratio. In addition, non-state owned enterprises deferred more wage than state-owned enterprises. Investors gave positive reactions to the deferring of wage during the tax reform, and the deferring of wage significantly increased the firm value. Our findings not only provide empirical evidence on the relationship between tax and the timing of compensation, filling the gap in this research field, but also have important reference value for the evaluation of the tax reform.