Government ownership, corporate governance and tax aggressiveness: evidence from China

Abstract

This study investigates how government ownership and corporate governance influence a firm's tax aggressiveness. Using Chinese listed companies during 2003–2009, we find that compared with government-controlled firms, non-government-controlled firms pursue a more aggressive tax strategy. In particular, non-government-controlled firms with a higher percentage of the board shareholdings and with a CEO who also serves as the board chairman are more aggressive. For government-controlled firms, we find that board shareholding has an impact on tax aggressiveness and it does not differ between local and central government-controlled firms. However, local government-controlled firms in less developed regions where the implementation of corporate governance measures is generally less effective are more tax aggressive than those in other regions.