Should firms going public enjoy tax benefits? An analysis of the Italian experience in the 1990s

In Italy tax benefits are granted to firms going public. However, does such tax relief really reduce the corporate tax burden? In this study we tackle the issue by considering 21 industrial firms that were listed on the Italian Exchange from 1995 to 1997 and enjoyed a temporary tax rate cut-off. We find that the increase in the taxable income reported by these firms largely counterbalances the effect of the tax relief. We conclude that a tax rate cut-off may not necessarily provoke a reduction in the tax burden for newly listed firms, since in the short term they report larger earnings compared with privately-owned companies. We claim that this ‘induced’ effect is mainly due to: the significant improvement of operating performance in the year of the listing; the reduction of the debt tax shield; an increase in investment and more accounting transparency. Our findings suggest that tax relief for IPO firms does not necessarily mean a loss of revenue for the government. © 2017 Wiley. All rights reserved.