Political Connections, Firm Size, and Capital Intensity: Empirical Evidence on Corporate Tax Aggressiveness

is study investigates the empirical influence of corporate political connections, firm size, and capital intensity on corporate tax aggressiveness within mining sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Employing a quantitative causal-explanatory research design, balanced panel data from publicly listed extractive firms were examined, with tax aggressiveness operationalized through the effective tax rate, where a lower effective tax rate denotes higher tax aggressiveness. The empirical findings reveal that corporate political connections do not exert a statistically significant direct effect on tax aggressiveness, as the theoretical rent-seeking benefits of political affiliations are increasingly neutralized by heightened regulatory scrutiny, stakeholder transparency, and the severe reputational risks associated with fiscal non-compliance in the extractive sector. In contrast, firm size serves as a significant positive driver of tax aggressiveness, corroborating the Resource-Based View and political power paradigms wherein larger corporations leverage their substantial financial resources, specialized tax planning expertise, and complex intra-group structures to aggressively minimize their fiscal liabilities. Conversely, capital intensity demonstrates a significant negative relationship with tax aggressiveness, indicating that extensive commitments to depreciable tangible fixed assets do not facilitate opportunistic tax sheltering; rather, standardized statutory fiscal depreciation allowances and heightened physical asset visibility enforce fiscal conservatism and statutory compliance. Ultimately, these findings provide critical empirical insights for fiscal authorities and policymakers to refine targeted anti-avoidance surveillance on large-scale extractive enterprises and strengthen corporate governance frameworks across emerging markets.