增值税改革与出口产品的品质升级

China’s Value-added Tax Reform and Quality Upgrade of Export Products

减税降费是助推经济高质量发展的重要动力。文章以深化增值税改革为切入点,系统分析增值税改革与出口产品品质的内在关系,并以2004年我国东北地区增值税转型改革试点为"准自然实验",基于2000-2007年我国工业企业和海关进出口贸易数据,在全面刻画出口产品品质演化特征的基础上,采用双重差分法考察增值税改革对出口产品品质的影响效应。研究发现:(1)增值税改革显著提升了企业的出口产品品质,有利于出口产品的品质升级,在考虑一系列稳健性检验之后,该结论依然成立。(2)对影响机制的分析与检验表明,企业创新绩效与进口中间品质量是增值税改革影响出口产品品质的主要渠道。(3)异质性分析发现,增值税改革对出口产品品质的影响效果因企业研发强度、所处行业要素密集度及所有制形式不同而有所差异,表现为低研发强度企业、处于劳动密集型行业的企业及非国有企业出口产品品质的提升更明显。文章不仅有助于评估减税政策的实际效果,还可以为企业出口产品品质的提升路径提供经验证据。

At this stage,China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. We must adhere to quality first,promote quality changes in economic development,accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power,and promote the construction of a trade power. Under this background,improving the quality of export products,cultivating new advantages in export competition,and realizing the conversion of export products from low-price competition to quality competition have become a problem that must be considered at present.Based on the perspective of supply-side structural reforms,this paper takes the deepening of the value-added tax(VAT)reform as the starting point,systematically analyzes the internal relationship between the VAT reform and export product quality. Then,using the quasi-natural experiment of China’s 2004 VAT reform in the northeast area and the data of China’s annual survey of industrial firms and customs import and export trade from 2000 to 2007,this paper investigates the impact of the VAT reform on export product quality through the method of difference-in-differences based on a comprehensive description of the evolution characteristics of China’s export product quality. The results show that,first,the VAT reform has a significant positive effect on export product quality and is conducive to the quality upgrade of export products. After considering a series of robustness tests,the conclusion is still valid. Second,the mechanism analyses and tests show that the innovation performance of firms and the quality of imported intermediate products are the main channels through which the VAT reform affects export product quality. Finally,the heterogeneity analyses show that the effect of the VAT reform on export product quality varies depending on R&D intensity,factor intensity and the form of ownership. Specifically,the effect is more obvious in low-R&D-intensive firms,labor-intensive firms and non-state-owned firms.Based on the above findings,the main enlightenments of this paper could be concluded as follows:First,the tax reduction policy has a positive effect on the improvement of export product quality,and the appropriate expansion of the coverage of preferential tax policies is optional. Second,the government should make full use of the tax reduction policy’s guidance and motivation to stimulate firms’ investment and speed up technological upgrading,and take the improvement of innovation performance and quality of imported intermediate products as important paths for improving firms’ export product quality. Furthermore,the formulation of tax policies should be more targeted and structured,and firms with weak R&D foundations,low technological levels and more constraints should be focused on.