How do tax differentials create high-payout and low-payout clientele?


The assumption in the MM model that dividends and capital gains do not attract any tax is not applicable in the real world. Usually, both dividends and future payouts (capital gains) attract a significant amount of tax.

Tax on Capital Gains is Less as Compared to Dividends

The tax brackets for capital gains is, however, lower in most of the markets than current dividends’ tax. Therefore, a client in a higher tax bracket should prefer lower tax rates or capital gains, while a clientele in the lower tax bracket should like dividends.

While considering the aspects of taxation, an investor in a higher tax bracket should prefer capital gains mainly for the following two reasons −

  • The capital gains tax is lower than dividend tax rates.

  • The capital gains tax is applicable only when the shares are sold.

Tax Differentials

When a higher tax bracket investor chooses capital gains, he/she has to pay lower taxes. This results in tax differentials. Consequently, the value of share increases in the case of internal financing than in the case of external financing. That is why, the low tax payout supports low dividend-yielding shares instead of the high dividend-yielding shares. The ultimate result of this process is that a new tax clientele is produced depending on the dividend payouts.

  • Investors in high-tax brackets should seek low-payout shares instead of high-payout ones.

  • Alternatively, the investors in low-tax bracket ones should look for high dividend-payout shares.

Therefore, dividends are usually bad in nature, as they attract higher taxes and low payout clientele.

However, there is a system that puts more stress on dividend income than capital gains in the near future too.

  • This system supports the lower tax bracket investors who want to maximize their earnings by utilizing dividends that are paid by companies in the current payment cycles.

  • This process of favoring higher tax payout will create a higher-payout clientele that considers dividends as more rewarding than low tax bracket investors.

  • High payout clienteles would seek to maximize their earnings by receiving more in the current payment cycle rather than in the future through capital gains.

Conclusion

Tax differentials are an important measure for shareholders because the amount saved in taxes is significant and the investors can protect quite a bit of earnings by saving taxes.

Tax differentials create high-payout and low-payout investors by offering various advantages to each group of investors. Each has its own advantages and so the investors will enjoy the use of tax rates in their own favor.

As long as differentials in tax payout remain, there will be high and low-payout clientele and it is of no surprise to analysts and financial managers.

Updated on: 31-Mar-2022

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