Does the tax stickiness exist?

Abstract

In the macro economy, the growth rate of tax revenue is consistently higher than the GDP growth rate, which is the thought source of this paper. Is the tax payment performance of micro businesses consistent with this macroeconomic phenomenon? For this reason, this article puts forward the concept of corporate tax stickiness, while exploring its existence, analyzing its theoretical basis from different angles. Then we analyze the existence of tax stickiness, its time trend and influencing factors, and put forward assumptions and use the A-share listed companies’ annual financial data from 2008 to 2015 to launch a series of empirical tests. It is found that the tax stickiness of listed companies in China does exist and tends to weaken with time extension. The macro economic growth effect was not significant, while the enterprise’s capital intensity has an enhanced influence on tax stickiness, and asset-liability ratio can relief the tax stickiness. However, in different length of time span, the influence of each factor is different, and the effect of comprehensive on tax stickiness is unstable. This paper is only a preliminary study, there are some limitations and a ground of research space for further exploring and improvement.