Follow the money! Combining household and firm-level evidence to unravel the tax elasticity of dividend

We estimate the tax elasticity of dividends using two recent French re- forms: a hike in the dividend tax rate followed, five years later, by a cut. To follow the cash movements within the balance sheets of households and firms caused by these reforms, we use newly-accessible personal and cor- porate tax registries. Following the tax increase, the elasticity of dividends equals four and there is no shifting towards other personal income cate- gories. We find instead an increase in companies’ spending. After the tax decrease, payouts revert to their initial level, but not enough to offset the amounts received during the high-tax period.