American Finance Association New Evidence that Taxes Affect the Valuation of Dividends Author(s): James M. Poterba and Lawrence H. Summers Source: The Journal of Finance, Vol. 39, No. 5 (Dec., 1984), pp. 1397-1415 Published by: Wiley for the American Finance Association Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2327734 Accessed: 12-06-2020 14:49 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms American Finance Association, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Finance This content downloaded from 18.28.8.168 on Fri, 12 Jun 2020 14:49:48 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THE JOURNAL OF FINANCE * VOL. XXXIX, NO. 5 * DECEMBER 1984 New Evidence That Taxes Affect the Valuation of Dividends JAMES M. POTERBA and LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS* ABSTRACT This paper uses British data to examine the effects of dividend taxes on investors' relative valuation of dividends and capital gains. British data offer great potential to illuminate the dividends and taxes question, since there have been two radical changes and several minor reforms in British dividend tax policy during the last 30 years. Studying the relationship between dividends and stock price movements during different tax regimes offers an ideal controlled experiment for assessing the effects of taxes on investors' valuation of dividends.